


Prince Gavin

by Hashtagmavin



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: M/M, Poor!Michael, Prince!Gavin, king AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-22
Updated: 2014-04-01
Packaged: 2018-01-09 16:51:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 25,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1148487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hashtagmavin/pseuds/Hashtagmavin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Prince AU) When Gavin sneaks out of the castle to get a little bit of momentary freedom, he never imagined meeting Michael, the poor boy who has no idea that he's the prince.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story for the Strawberryshortcrowley's friend's birthday! :D Happy birthday, lovely, I hope you're having an amazing day!  
> I was told that you like King!AU's, and I tried my hardest to write this as quickly as possible so that I could post it on your birthday even though I don't think it came out very well and I still don't have the second part finished. Sorry D: hopefully it's still somewhat enjoyable? <3

It’s very rare that Gavin ever leaves the castle.

His parents believe that he might end up getting injured or kidnapped if he ever goes out. It’s not like they force him to stay inside all hours of the day. He’s allowed to go out into the garden to get fresh air and bask in the sunlight, but it’s never enough.

Sometimes the garden is the only place he ever gets any peace and quiet from all the prince business. It’s nice to just lay in the grass, close his eyes, and relax. Feel the gentle breeze, the sunlight shining through the trees warming his skin, and forget all about his responsibilities and lessons.

He could hear children playing and laughing, people gossiping or arguing, and the pitter patter of them all walking around busily.

No strict rules or guidelines. No “Princes can’t do this” or “You’re going to get yourself hurt.” He can climb the trees, run around in the grass, and even take a nice nap if he wants.

Don’t get him wrong, he loves being a prince. He loves his parents and he loves all of the work staff in the castle that he’s close friends with. But it’s just so undeniably boring sometimes. He has to spend practically every minute inside because of lessons and their fear for his safety. Sure, the castle is huge and it’s fun to explore, but it gets old fast.

Especially when people are always scolding you for doing “dangerous” activities. And honestly, what’s so dangerous about running around or having fun? He’s hardly even allowed to handle a sword because he might get hurt.

Of course, soon he’ll be getting taught about combat and other such things, but only because they want him to be able to defend himself in case of emergencies.

Everything is ‘ _future king_ ' this and ' _future king_ ' that.

It’s enough to drive a guy mad.

He knows that it’s important for him to learn how to become a king when his adoptive parents, Geoff and Griffon, step down from the throne, but does he really have to give up everything for it?

They’ve said numerous times that once he becomes king then he can go out all he wants to talk to the townsfolk, but that’s just too far away. He wants the freedom  _no_ w.

He misses the days when he was a young child and could do whatever he wanted. When he didn’t have lessons and rules, and the garden wasn’t his only place to get some alone time.

Growing up sucks sometimes.

Which is why he’s decided to finally be a little rebellious for once in his life. With the help of Ray (his best friend and a servant boy) he’d managed to sneak out of castle through the servants door in the kitchen and get out into town.

He was sort of hesitant about it first. All of the words his parents would say to him about getting kidnapped or murdered out on the streets were terrifying. They were probably just trying to make sure he didn’t do any reckless (like he’s doing now) but it seems they might have just been too cautious with him.

But everybody seems nice, even though a few are a little bossy and pushy when they move past him others smile friendly at him or wave back. Nobody is recognizing him as the son of the king and queen, which is good.

It’s fun to be the rebellious teenage son. He almost feels like he’s just a regular kid, strolling through town and having a normal day.

He walks down the street, seeing more people crowded into one place than he’s ever seen in his life. He’s so used to everything being orderly and organized that it’s exciting to be in such a hectic and almost chaotic place.

Gavin isn’t sure why they’ve ever wanted to keep him inside. Yeah, maybe it’s a little dangerous. He knows not everybody is nice and would easily take advantage of kidnapping a member of the royal family to get a little extra money, but nobody knows he’s the prince right now. He’s just wearing a simple tunic and brown pants, nothing that screams ‘I’m royalty.’

He really needs to thank Ray a million times for not only helping him get out, but loaning him some old clothes as well. He isn’t going out there so that he can be bombarded and praised by the people in town, he just wants to be able to walk around and enjoy the momentary freedom.

He hasn’t been out here for long but knows that he should probably head back soon. If anybody notices that he’s gone then he could get in big trouble. He doesn’t want his parents to worry, he already feels guilty enough for sneaking out. If they panic too much and send the guards out to find him then he might be in big trouble once he’s found.

Well, he  _would_  turn back right now.

If only he knew where he was.

It seems his little stroll through the large town has gotten him undeniably lost. He’s been out in the town before, but always with others that know their way around. Maybe he should have taken Ray along with him.

This might not be going as smoothly as he hoped. He’d hate to end this with asking somebody for directions, because they might make the connection and recognize him. His accent would be a dead giveaway if they know what the prince sounds like.

His parents would find out and he would be in  _so_  much trouble.

Things can never go easily for Gavin, can they?

He turns and walks into a small alley, hoping that maybe he’ll come across something recognizable on the adjoining street. He’s trying to focus entirely on not panicking or worrying about how he’s going to get home quickly. Maybe he should plan out things more before going through with his ideas.

As soon as he’s about to reach the end of the alley, something runs around the corner and crashes into him.

He’s almost thrown off by the impact, but he has a quick enough reaction time to brace himself. The person that ran into him however, did not.

"Fuck," the person curses under his breath as he lands onto the hard pavement. Not even a beat passes before they jump up and are back onto their feet.

Gavin’s eyes widen in shocked confusion and he begins to immediately stutter out apologies, “S-Sorry! I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to bump into you, I was just-“

His words are cut off by the boy covering his mouth with his hand and pushing him against the wall.

"Shut up," the boy hisses, glaring into his eyes. If his mouth wasn’t covered it still would have been enough to terrify Gavin into absolute silence.

Oh, God. Maybe his parents were right to never let him out of the castle without supervision. It’s only been a little over an hour and he’s already gotten himself into trouble.

He doesn’t dare move a muscle as their bodies are close to one another, his back pressed against the alley and the boy pressed against him, keeping him flat against the wall. He’s peering out from behind the corner to see if there’s any danger.

Although he’s utterly confused and scared, he tries to calm himself down by focusing on something unimportant. Like the boy’s appearance. Curly reddish brown hair, a few freckles, and probably about the same age as him. Judging by the small smudges of dirt on his face and clothes, he isn’t wealthy or very well-off. But attractive nonetheless. He’s panting and out of breath, presumably because he was running from something.

He isn’t exactly what he should be more afraid of. Whatever he’s running from, or the actual boy who’s still pressing him uncomfortably against a wall.

He squirms only a slight bit, but it’s enough for the boy to glare at him and says, “Be quiet or I’ll beat the shit out of you,” to him in an aggressive tone.

A few tense moment pass in silence until he lets out a sigh of relief. Just like that the angry and panicked demeanor is gone. The hand is slowly removed from over Gavin’s mouth and the boy steps back a few paces.

"He’s gone," he murmurs, still looking out suspiciously at the direction the man used to be. "Sorry that I kind of attacked you, but I just… really didn’t need that guy finding me."

Gavin takes in a deep breath, only just now realizing how difficult it was to breathe a few moments ago.

"It’s, uh, it’s okay," he manages to say, "Just kind of startled me a little bit."

"Startled?" he scoffs, "I almost thought you were gonna start crying."

Gavin furrows his brows, “I was not!”

The boy mocks his words with an overly exaggerated British accent.

Gavin glares at him although it isn’t particularly serious. Now that they have some distance and are able to talk like normal human beings, the boy is kind of intriguing. It’s very rare that he ever meets somebody outside of the castle that isn’t a noblemen or somebody of high importance.

He tried to avoid directly speaking to anybody during his stroll outside of the castle walls but the boy doesn’t look at him as though he’s the prince. When their eyes first met he’d almost expected him to be shocked or worried that he almost injured the ‘future king’ but it’s like he didn’t even notice. Maybe he isn’t familiar with the royal family or knows what they look like.

"I really do apologize," Gavin continues to babble while looking down. He notices that the boy must have had apples and they’d fallen to the ground during the collision. He bends down, picks them up quickly, and then hands them to him, not wanting it to look like he was trying to steal them. "Here. Once again, I’m so-"

The boy cuts him off and takes the two apples, “You’re sorry. I get it.”

Gavin nods, still feeling bad about the ordeal, but then holds out his hand for an introductory shake, “I’m Gavin.”

The boy gives him a hard stare, looking back and forth from his outstretched hand and back to Gavin’s face. He doesn’t accept it and instead says, “A handshake? Who do you think I am? The king of Endenham?”

Gavin raises an eyebrow with confusion as he lets his hand fall slowly, “Actually, Endenham doesn’t have a king.”

"Oh, great," the boy mutters almost to himself as he begins to move past him, "One of those educated assholes."

Maybe he really is spending too much time with royalty. It’s hard to forget that not everybody was raised to be overly polite and give handshakes upon first meetings.

He really doesn’t want him to leave yet, they’d hardly even met. “Wait,” he cries and walks quickly to catch up to the boy who’s now making his way back through the alley the way Gavin came, “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to offend you.”

"You didn’t offend me, moron. I just have more important things to do than stand here and shoot the breeze with somebody I don’t know."

"Well, I already told you, my name’s Gavin," he says with a smile and doesn’t offer his hand this time, "So it’s kind of like we already know each other. Almost like we’re friends."

The boy stops walking and raises an eyebrow at him, “Friends?”

Gavin holds his breath and prays that he’s somehow managed to get back onto his good side. But judging by the way he’s being stared at, that might not be the case. He practically jumps up and down while waiting for the verdict, who knew introducing yourself to somebody could be so much work.

It might be easier just to say ‘ _Hey, I’m the goddamn prince, be friends with me_!’

"Fine," the boy finally says, "My name’s Michael."

Gavin grins widely, overjoyed that this is going well. It’s almost exciting to know somebody outside of the castle. It’s so rare that he even gets outside of the palace walls, let alone meet somebody. Especially somebody as interesting as Michael.

"I’m sorry for bumping into you too," Michael continues, "Wasn’t entirely your fault. I wasn’t looking where I was going."

"It’s fine," Gavin waves off, "I was the one running all over the gaff. Why were you being chased?"

Michael raises an eyebrow at the odd term but doesn’t comment on it. He smirks and then tosses one of the apples at Gavin who jumps and scrambles to catch it.

"Stole a few apples from him. He caught me and wasn’t pleased," he explains easily, "The alley happened to be the closest place to run and hide."

Gavin’s eyes widen, “You stole them?”

"Yeah. You’ve never stolen anything before?"

"Well…" he considers lying, but he’s an awful liar and Michael seems to be good at reading people. He’s already having a hard enough time not blurting out the fact that he’s the prince. Gavin’s never been good with lying or fibs. "No, not exactly."

Michael nods and takes a large bite from the green apple in his palms as they begin walking, the juice runs down his chin before he roughly wipes it away with the dirty sleeve of his shirt, “Your families well off enough to buy food themselves, huh?”

"Uh, s-sort of, I suppose," he stutters, and takes a small bite from his own apple.

"Where are your folks now? They aren’t wondering where their asshole son is?"

He can’t tell Michael, but yes. Probably. He’s been gone for quite a while so it wouldn’t be a big surprise if Geoff and Griffon are walking around the castle beginning to look for him. If he doesn’t get back soon then they might even start to get worried.

But maybe not. Maybe they’re busy doing king and queen stuff and don’t have time to worry about the whereabouts of their son.

It’s a risk Gavin’s willing to take because he doesn’t really want to say goodbye to Michael yet, especially now that they’re getting along.

"Nah," he tries to say nonchalantly, but the worry seeps through and Michael notices.

There’s a few moments where Michael just stares at him suspiciously before a look of realization dawns on his face.”Oh, I know what’s going on,” he grins mischievously.

Gavin almost drops his apple in disappointment, “You do?”

"Yeah, you’re a runaway, right?"

That wasn’t the response he was expecting, but he’ll go along with it regardless.

"Uh, yeah sure," he murmurs.

"Yeah sure?"

He rolls his eyes and grimaces at the words as he speaks them, “Yes, I ran away. Jeez.”

Michael doesn’t comment on it any further, assuming that it’s a sore subject. They aren’t going to get anywhere if he spends the entire day trying to pry information from him. Besides, he knows it isn’t any of his business.

"Well, what are you doing out in an alley?" he asks, "Don’t you have somewhere to be? Ya’know,  _other_  than here, getting on my nerves?”

"Actually no. In fact, I was trying to find my way around before I bumped into you."

"Really? Have you never been to these parts before?"

It’s not that big of a realm, almost impossible to get lost in if you know the area. But Gavin’s never really been out here that often so it’s not really a big surprise that he’d gotten lost so easily.

"Not really," he says it quietly.

"Where are you from then?" he asks, not wanting to dampen Gavin’s apparent optimistic mood.

"I’m from here."

"You are not," Michael rolls his eyes, "You can tell me, dude. I’m sure as hell not gonna send you back."

"No, I really am from here. I’ve lived here my entire life," Gavin insists.

"Then why don’t you know the area?"

"I don’t know," he shrugs, "I just don’t get out much, I suppose."

"Well, you’re on the streets now, buddy. The only place to be is  _out._ ”

"There’s no inn or anything that I could stay at?" he asks, the fact that he’s the rich prince of this town has almost completely slipped from his mind. Maybe he’s a bit better at lying than he’s thought because he very easily slipped into the role of rebellious runaway son.

Michael raises a brow again, “You have any money?”

Of course he doesn’t. He’d only went out to the town to get some fresh air and freedom, he didn’t plan on buying anything or getting lost. It’s not like he’ll actually have to spend a night in an inn anyways, but maybe it would have been a good idea to take a few coins.

He really needs to think through his plans more.

"I’ll take that as a no," Michael smirks and rolls his eyes.

"I just don’t know much about being on my own," Gavin shrugs, "I’ve never been independent before."

"Everybody’s always done everything for you?"

"Yeah."

"Well, luckily we’re friends then," Michael beams, almost sarcastically, and puts his hand on Gavin’s shoulder, "Because your dear best friend Michael Jones is going to help you."

"Help me? You mean-"

"Yup! Because I am such a kind hearted person and not as much of an asshole as I probably first seemed to be-"

"You didn’t seem like an that."

"Dude," Michael states, "I shoved you against a wall and threatened to beat you up just for struggling a little."

"And now we’re friends!" Gavin reminds him playfully.

Michael shakes his head with amusement, “You are way too trusting of people.”

"So are you."

Michael doesn’t comment on that, “How about I show you around town?”

Gavin doesn’t bother telling him that he actually does live in this town, mainly because he still doesn’t have a very good excuse as to why he doesn’t know his way around very well.

Besides, the whole reason he left the castle was so he could explore the town for a day. Having a tour-guide would make it a lot easier.

"Yeah," he smiles, "Sure."

"Come on then," Michael holds out his hand.

At first Gavin thinks that he wants to shake hands as a formal agreement to the tour, but he doesn’t want to look like an idiot because Michael already reminded him that shaking hands is not something commoners do.

Michael rolls his eyes after a few moments of silent confusion from Gavin as he just stares at the outstretched hand.

"Here," he says, and takes Gavin’s hand in his. Instead of shaking it he just holds it tightly in his and then begins walking, pulling Gavin along with him.

He isn’t a complete shut in. He’s heard of holding hands before, but it’s only something that townsfolk do with people they love or care about. Kind of like kissing but not as affectionate. But he’s never held hands with anybody before. It’s seen as improper and only something that only poor people do because they can’t afford to give gifts to show their care.

Regardless, it fills his stomach with a warm feeling and he can’t wipe the smile off his face as he walks along side Michael, they’re finger intertwined.

Michael lets out a laugh when he sees Gavin’s rosy cheeks and dumb grin, “Man, for an educated rich kid, you sure are stupid.”

*

And that’s how they spend the next few hours.

Michael pulls him around town, pointing out different areas and telling him things about it. Gavin’s just so excited to see and learn about everything that it’s so easy to show him about all of it.

During this time they talk a lot, tell stupid jokes to one another, and laugh their asses off. It’s almost like they’ve been friends forever. They don’t let go of each others hands the entire time.

Gavin wishes that he would have sneaked out of the castle a long time ago if it meant knowing Michael for a longer period of time. He knows for certain that he’s definitely going to sneak out again if it means getting to see him more.

"That’s the entrance to the castle," Michael says along their tour while pointing at the gates to Gavin’s home.

His eyes widen as he stares at them. It’s so weird to see the castle from the outside like this. It looks pretty. He’s been gone for longer than he’d originally planned, hopefully his parents aren’t wondering where he is.

He always feels so guilty whenever he worries them. Usually it happened a lot when he was a young boy and doing something silly like not coming out of his hiding place after a game of Hide-and-Seek. Hopefully they won’t panic when they see that he’s no where to be found within the palace walls.

"That’s the blacksmith," Michael continues, not noticing how interested he is in the castle. Gavin shakes his head and puts it out of his brain, focusing more on the tour than his home.

"And there’s the town fountain," Michael says and gestures to the pretty white fountain in the middle of town.

"I’ve seen that before!" Gavin gasps, excited to see it up close.

The only time he’s ever been in town center was when he was in a carriage. He watched children playing in the fountain from his seat and begged Geoff and Griffon to let him out so he could play too. They felt bad for having to say no, but they had to go to an important dinner and couldn’t have Gavin arriving soaking wet.

He was only a child then, but the idea still hasn’t lost it’s appeal.

"Come on, Michael!" Gavin yells excitedly and pulls him towards the fountain.

Once they reach it, Gavin steps in and jumps around, making the water splash violently around him.

He’s never felt so free in all of his life. Nobody to yell at him that playing in a fountain is dangerous or improper. No rules to follow or people to please. He can practically do whatever he wants.

Michael tries to shield himself from the water using his hands but isn’t too bothered when he gets splashed a little.

"What the hell are you doing!?"

"Playing in the fountain!"

"Only children play in fountains, moron," he says, but he can’t bring himself to actually be angry. The sight of Gavin hopping around in the shallow water (that’s only a little above ankle deep) is almost adorable, especially when he’s giggling like that.

"Well, let’s be children for a while!"

Michael rolls his eyes and for a moment Gavin thinks that he’s going to turn him down and demand that he get out of the fountain. But then he bends down to roll up his pants (although they’ll probably get wet anyways) and then steps in along with him.

Gavin lets out a loud squeal and begins splashing him with water. They playfully fight like this for a few moments, paying no attention to the people that stare at them as they walk by.

Goddamn being away from the castle feels so good. It’s like he’s only now realizing how stir-crazy he was going in there and all of it is finally melting away.

He grabs Michael’s hands and begins spinning around with him, sort of like a ridiculous version of ring-around-the-rosy.

It really didn’t take long for he and Michael to become comfortable with one another. They’ve become such fast friends that they’re able to dance around in a fountain together and not care what anybody else thinks. They’ve spent the large majority of the tour making fun of one another and cracking inappropriate jokes.

"Hey! You two! Get out of the fountain!" a loud voice interrupts their fun.

They immediately stop jumping around and look up to see somebody marching towards them. Gavin recognizes it as a palace guard and fear creeps up his spine.

If anybody’s going to notice who he is, it would be a guard that works at his actual home.

Michael seems just as alarmed as him though and they both being to scramble out of the fountain.

"Run!" they yell, but they’re both laughing like idiots. Everybody witnessing it is laughing too, enjoying the entertainment of two silly boys having fun together.

Michael’s faster than him so he almost trips over his own two feet the entire time, but he’s giggling the entire time.

"Get back here!" the guard yells, "You’re the boy who was stealing earlier!"

Michael stops laughing and curses under his breath. Gavin continues to laugh, not finding in within himself to actually be annoyed or scared of getting caught. This is just too exhilarating for him to be angry.

He’s pulled along even more roughly by Michael while the guard continues to chase them.

It doesn’t take long to lose him in the crowd of other people in town. Michael’s an expert at getting people off his tail when they’re chasing him, it just happened to take a little longer because he was pulling a laughing Gavin along with him.

*

When they finally stop they’re both out of breath and panting heavily. Gavin’s finally stopped laughing but only because he feels like he’ll suffocate if he doesn’t get anymore air inside of his lungs.

"That was fun!" he exclaims once his breathing begins to turn back to normal.

"Fun!? You think running from palace guards is fun?"

"Well, yeah," Gavin shrugs, choosing to ignore Michael’s obvious annoyance, "It’s like an adventure!"

"Tell me if you’re still having fun when we’re caught and arrested for stealing."

His eyes widen at the thought, “Would they really do that?”

Michael smirks and opens the door to the building they’ve stopped in front of, “You really aren’t from around here, are you?”

Gavin lets out an annoyed huff as he follows him inside, not really paying attention to where they are. “Of course I am. I grew up here.”

Michael somehow still doubts that.

"Besides, why are you so worried about the guards? You only stole an apple."

"Yeah, because that’s the only fucking thing I’ve ever stolen in my life," he says sarcastically, "Before now I’ve been a golden citizen of society."

"You swear a lot," Gavin points out.

Despite the fact that his own father, the goddamn king, is constantly spewing off curse words, Gavin’s teachers have always scolded him for disrespectful language. Apparently those kinds of words are improper and not fit for a growing young man.

Gavin thinks it’s ridiculous.

"No, I don’t. Maybe you just don’t swear  _enough_.”

"I swear plenty!" as soon as he says it, they both know it’s a lie.

"Oh yeah? Swear right now then," Michael challenges with a smirk.

The request throws Gavin off a little, but he manages to bounce back with a determined glare, “Fine! You’re a smegpot!”

"The fuck is a smegpot?"

"An annoying person, which you are."

"I think you made that up so you wouldn’t have to actually swear."

"I did not! It’s a real world."

"Sure it is," he snickers.

Gavin rolls his eyes, not wanting Michael to dampen his good mood, and instead looks around at his surroundings.

"Where are we?"

"This is my place," Michael responds easily

"You live here?" Gavin asks, looking around the place.

It seems to be an old abandoned shop. It’s dirty and has a slightly musky smell to it. The floorboards look rotten, and Gavin isn’t one hundred percent sure but he thinks he just saw a rat scampering across the room out of the corner of his eye. But it’s also getting harder to see because it’s almost night and the sky is turning dark.

"Yeah," Michael grins, "It’s not much, but it’s home. Certainly beats living on the streets."

Gavin supposes, but he can’t really imagine how cold it must be at night. He sees only a few thin blankets in a corner, but nothing else that could really protect him from the cold. There aren’t many personal items around other than that.

Maybe he’s stupid for complaining about living in the castle. Sure, it’s suffocating sometimes, but at least it’s a warm roof over his head, his stomach is always full, and he’s got a loving family to support him. Michael seems to be doing well on his own, but it didn’t take him long to agree to be friends with Gavin. Maybe he’s a bit lonely.

"I know it’s probably shit compared to where ever the hell you used to live but-"

Gavin cuts him off immediately, not wanting his curiosity and silence to come across as disgust or hesitation. “No, I like it. This is nice. There isn’t much, but it still feels like a home. Like someone lives here…” he trails off contently before shaking his head with self-annoyance, “Sorry, that probably doesn’t make any sense.”

"Nah, it’s cool," Michael smirks, "Maybe one day I’ll live in a big house with plenty of food and warm blankets, but until then…" he gestures playfully to the area surrounding them.

Gavin smiles fondly. He knows Geoff and Griffon don’t think that they’re too high class for things like this, but he can think of a few other royal families that would stick their noses up in disgust. Gavin’s able to see the beauty in it.

Michael’s just a poor boy with only a few stolen apples to his name. But he’s optimistic and able to look on the bright side of things. It’s nice to meet somebody that’s worked hard for everything that they have instead of just receiving it on a silver platter.

It certainly puts things into perspective and makes him wish he weren’t so oblivious to how lucky he really is. Michael should be the one living in a grand and luxurious castle, not him.

Michael almost seems to read his mind because he smiles softly before saying, “Hey, you know you’re welcome to stay here with me. But, are you sure you don’t want to just go back home? Patch things up with your folks?”

"I…I don’t know," Gavin murmurs.

He didn’t actually run away from home. That was just a lie to keep Michael’s mind away from any prince connections. But he should have gone back home a long time ago and the more he’s out here, the more it feels like the lie is true.

"Listen, I don’t mean to sound like some parenting asshole to you because I’m like, what, a year or two older than you? And I’m practically a runaway myself so I’ve got no room to judge, but I’m also just a stranger that you quite literally bumped into on the streets."

"But you’re not a stranger, I’ve already told you that we’re friends. You can’t get rid of me now whether you want to or not," Gavin grins cheekily at him.

Michael rolls his eyes and lets out a sigh, but the smile on his face shows that he’s more amused than annoyed. “Fine, you can stay here with me for tonight, but if your rich ass can’t handle it then you can run back home to mommy and daddy.”

"What makes you think my family is rich?"

"Well, one, you’re obviously educated even though you lack all common sense."

"Hey!"

"And two, just the way you carry yourself is very pompous and high class, especially compared to me. Trying to shake hands and have good manners and all of that nonsense."

Gavin didn’t realize that he’d been ‘carrying’ himself in a particular way. He was raised to be polite and elegant around those he met, otherwise it might give the kingdom a bad name. He’s not allowed to be rowdy or childish around people’s he’s just met.

"I am not pompous or high class," he argues.

Michael snickers and raises his hands in front of his chest, “Hey, hey, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. If you have a family wealthy enough to care about manners and morals more than food and shelter, then that’s good.”

"You don’t make it sound like it’s good."

"Mainly because everybody I’ve ever run into that’s like that is a total asshat."

"Am I an asshat?"

"Only a little, but you’re growing on me," Michael says with a grin and then ruffles Gavin’s hair playfully.

Luckily the run from the palace guards has dried their clothing a little more so they aren’t soaking wet. Gavin has to resist the urge to giggle when Michael runs a hand through his head to check if it’s dry.

It’s weird.

If you told Gavin yesterday that he’s be here, standing in an old abandoned store with a charming thief that’s oblivious to his royalty, then he’d probably laugh and tell you to sod off.

His snobby relatives would probably be incredibly shocked and horrified if he truthfully admitted to the fact that he has a small crush on the boy.

"Why are you staring at me like that," Michael asks with amusement.

"It’s just…" Gavin trails off, unable to explain it intelligently, "This is nice."

"You said that already."

"Doesn’t make it any less true. I don’t know why, but I like being near you."

"Yeah, well, that’s a natural feeling, Gavin," Michael grins cockily until Gavin shoves his shoulder.

"Shut up, I’m being serious. I do love and miss my family, even if it’s only been a day, but being out here with you is so refreshing compared to that. I kind of don’t want to go back."

"You can do whatever you want."

He isn’t used to having full control over situations. He’s grown so accustomed to everybody doing everything for him and refusing to let him be independent in his choices.

"But that’s the problem, I don’t  _know_  what I want.”

"Once again, it’s only been a day," Michael points out, "No need to make any irrational decisions yet."

He doesn’t want to choose one over the other. He wants to stay here with Michael, become closer and have fun with him like they did today. But he loves it just as much as the castle, his parents, and being the prince. It hurts him to think that he might not be able to have both.

The whole “running away from home” thing still isn’t genuine. He didn’t leave the castle because he was fed up with it and had to leave, he just wanted some excitement and freedom for once. No people doting on him every second and doing everything for him. He can’t even take a bath without people offering to do all of it for him.

Being out here is the complete opposite of that. Michael is willing to help him get used to it, but he’s still doing things on his own. Meeting new people, making ridiculous spur-of-the-moment decisions, and actually sort of choosing who he gets to like. Nobody to tell him, ‘ _Go dance with that person, their father is king so and so,_ ' or ' _Stay away from that one, although their wealthy, their parents have recently ruined their family name_.’

Here, in this little run down shop, there’s nobody to look at Michael and say to him, ‘ _No. Absolutely not. He’s just a poor street rat. Stay away from him at all costs_.’

"I like you," he states outright, still slightly lost in his own thoughts.

Michael chuckles and without skipping a beat murmurs back, “I like you too, rich boy.”

Gavin’s about to protest the name calling until Michael reaches up and cups his cheek in his hand. The contact sends a tingling sensation to both the touched skin and the pit of his stomach.

It’s a quick kiss, only a tender peck that lasts a few brief seconds. But when Michael pulls away, Gavin hums happily, almost as though in a satisfied trance.

"You really  _don’t_  get out much, do you?” Michael asks, highly entertained by how visibly content Gavin seems to be.

*

Gavin’s never slept on the floor before. He’s used to his big, comfortable, fluffy bed.

When he wakes up the next morning his limbs are aching and incredibly sore.

For a few disoriented seconds he doesn’t remember where he is and panics, but he feels Michael shift along side him and then the memories quickly flood back.

He turns around so that he’s facing the boy who’s still sleeping soundly, looking so peaceful and quiet compared to when he’s awake.

Due to the limited amount of blankets Michael has, and the fact that it gets very cold at night, they agreed it would be best to sleep next to one another for warmth.

Gavin didn’t have any objections simply because what he said earlier was true. He likes being near Michael.

Goddamn, it’s only been a day and he’s thinking sappy shit like this.

If only he felt this way about the nobles that his relatives wish for him to be interested in. Luckily, his parents have stopped any discussions of arranging him into a marriage, but that doesn’t stop their persuasions.

Honestly, he does like all of the people they try to set him up with. But more like friends. In fact, he considers most of them to be his best friends despite the fact that they only get to see each other during visits. He could spend hours making silly and inappropriate jokes with Princess Barbara, running around the castle and accidentally destroying everything in their path with Prince Dan, playing with the cats in the stables with Princess Lindsay, or playfully pestering Prince Jack.

But none of that compares to the feelings he has for Michael. Maybe it means something, maybe it doesn’t. But all Gavin knows is that he doesn’t want to leave Michael forever.

It’s only been a day, but he knows he could spend the rest of his life like this. Just being himself with a boy that he likes. No worries about any royalty or kingdom stuff.

Whenever he meets somebody new, it doesn’t take very long to determine if he’s fond of them or not. Maybe he’s just good at recognizing the good in people. Even when he’d met Prince Ryan, he saw past the creepy and terrifying side and saw that he was actually just a big softie underneath all of that.

Geoff says that he’s too trusting of people, but Gavin fails to see how that’s a bad thing.

But at least all of those people know who he is. He wasn’t lying to them or pretending to be something that he’s not. Michael has no idea that he’s Prince Gavin Free, son of King and Queen Ramsey. To him he’s just an annoying rich kid that’s run away from home.

He feels incredibly guilty for hiding his true identity from him, but knows that if he’d introduced himself truthfully, Michael wouldn’t have given him a second glance and passed him off as being a stuck up snob. Which he still sort of thinks Gavin is.

Why does life have to be so complicated?

*

"So, how does this whole  _stealing_  thing work?” Gavin asks as they walk into town. People have up some foodstands and there’s a large crowd of people all gathered around to buy things.

It’s still just as hectic as yesterday, but still just as new and exciting to him. Maybe he’s still in disbelief that he’s actually outside of the castle. So much has happened in just one day, and although he still feels incredibly guilty for everything that he’s doing wrong, he considers it all to be worth it.

"I don’t know, just grab whatever you can and try not to get caught."

"There’s no techniques or rules involved?"

During lessons he’s always told a full outline on what he has to do, how to do it, and then has to watch somebody else do it numerous times before ever getting the opportunity to do it himself. Learning to ride a horse took almost three years because of this process.

"No, are you stupid?" Michael gives him an exasperated look, "It’s just stealing food. It isn’t breaking into the goddamn royal castle."

"Well, I’m nervous," Gavin practically whines, "I’ve never stolen anything before in my life."

"Just go over there, grab something to eat, and then get away."

"But what if-"

"No," he states, "Do you want to do this or not?"

"I guess, but…"

"It’s easy, just come with me and I’ll do it to show you how."

Gavin’s still nervous when Michael pulls him over to the food stands. He really should have taken some money with him when he’d left the castle. He didn’t really mean for this lie to go on for so long, but now he’s actually going to steal.

He’s never done anything like this before. In fact, before yesterday he hadn’t ever broken any rules given to him. Sure, it’s been stressful, but also exciting for all of the same reasons.

If he just went up to the stand in his formal attire and said something like ‘ _I’m Prince Gavin, can I have an apple please_?’ they would probably give him one without question. All of the townsfolk really like the royal family, simply because they’re very good and fair leaders.

Geoff and Griffon are very good at socializing with people and always want everybody to be happy. They take time out of their day to listen to any complaints that anybody might have and then try their best to fix it. Their against human slavery, arranged marriage, and all of that other stuff that Gavin can’t stand. He knows if he were just a regular kid with no connections to them at all, he would still really like them.

But he’s with Michael right now, and nobody has made the connection yet that he’s the prince.

Michael casually picks up an apple from the stand that they’re closest too, and Gavin’s breath hitches in his throat. He feels like a mischievous little boy that’s breaking rules just for the sake of it.

He’s so lost in his thoughts he hardly even notices that Michael has continued walking until he feels the tug on his hand. He continues to walk, worried about anything that could have gone wrong at this point. Michael is an expert at stealing things though, and he’s probably done it numerous times before.

He lets out a sigh of relief once they’re a far distance away and nobody’s said anything.

"You okay?" Michael asks with a smirk.

"Yeah, I think so, it was just really nerve wracking."

"What? To steal some apples? That’s child’s play."

"But you only took one."

"Did I?" Michael asks, and then pulls another apple out of his pocket besides the one in his other hand.

Gavin’s eyes widen, still slightly worried about this whole ordeal, “I only saw you take one.”

"Nope, here you go," he tosses the apple to him, and it reminds Gavin of yesterday when they’d first met.

He shakes his head, a cross between amused and impressed towards Michael’s thieving skills.

He’s about to take a bite of his apple when he hears a soft crying sound. Michael doesn’t acknowledge it, used to fussy children being upset in the middle of town, but it’s a new experience for Gavin.

He turns to see a young boy with shaggy brown hair, holding hands with his mother. Fat tears are rolling down his cheeks as he stares down at the ground where he dropped his orange into a puddle.

It’s very rare that Gavin ever sees children. One of the royal guards has a new baby, but nobody really trusts him to hold it. He doesn’t blame them, he wouldn’t trust himself with such a tiny human either. Other than that, the youngest person he knows is probably Ray (who’s only a year younger than him.)

Seeing the poor boy crying really pulls at his heart strings, and before he can really question if it’s a good idea, he walks over.

"Hello there," he says in a friendly and welcoming tone.

The young boy wipes the remaining tears from his eyes and looks at Gavin, who crouches down lower to be at eye level.

He’s wearing simple clothing like Gavin, but his mother doesn’t pull him away once she sees him. He’s thankful that he doesn’t look so disheveled and dirty that he’d worry her. But he knows he can’t look good, especially after still wearing the same clothes he’d worn yesterday and sleeping in them.

The boy looks down shyly, and it isn’t until his mother gives him a gentle nudge that he finally meets Gavin’s eyes with rosy cheeks and responds. “Hi.”

"My name’s Gavin," he says, and he worries for a moment that they might recognize him. But either they’re just as unknowing as Michael, or the thought hasn’t even come to their mind.

Gavin isn’t that popular of a name, but the accent probably would have been a dead give away. But he hasn’t been seen or heard much in the eyes of the public, usually only from a distance where he’s standing shyly behind Geoff and Griffon. They’d also never expect the king and queen’s son to be out in town without supervision and dressed the way he is.

"I’m Alex," the boy says, growing more confident as the conversation continues.

"I saw that you dropped your orange."

"Yeah, it just fell from my hands. I’m always dropping stuff."

Gavin nods in understanding. “I do that a lot too. But here,” he hands Alex his fresh apple and the boy’s eyes widen.

"You mean it!?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Oh, sweetie, we really can’t accept that-" Alex’s mother begins to say to him, but he cuts her off and stands up.

"No, no, it’s totally fine. I can’t stand to see children upset, especially over something as easily replaceable as an orange."

"Thank you so much," she smiles at him warmly and then nudges her son, "Alex, what do you say?"

"Thank you, mister!" the boy beams, no longer shy or nervous and actually leans forwards to hug Gavin’s leg.

He grins and ruffles the boys hair before they say their goodbyes and part ways.

When he looks back at Michael he sees the eyebrow raised in amusement and the crossed arms.

Gavin’s almost expecting him to be annoyed for giving away a perfectly good apple, but instead he shakes his head and smiles. “You big softie.”

"Sorry, I just… felt bad that he lost his orange."

"It’s cool, they actually seemed to really like you. You’re quite the people pleaser, Gavin." Michael looks almost impressed at him, but the words make him a lot happier.

He really did handle that well, didn’t he? Maybe it’s just the way he was raised, to care for everybody and make them all happy. He doesn’t want anybody to be upset, even if it’s just a little boy losing fruit in a puddle. It makes him feel more confident in his role as future king. Maybe he won’t be as much of a screw up as he thinks he will.

Michael presses a firm kiss to his temple before they begin walking again, and it makes Gavin happy all over again.

*

"There are a lot more guards out than usual," Michael points out as they duck past another one.

Gavin can pick out a few palace guards asking questions to people that look nervous or scared during the conversation, but it doesn’t help to explain anything that’s going on. It wasn’t like this yesterday, everybody was so lively and active compared to the few that look concerned now.

He grips Michael’s hand in his, missing the interaction and also growing worried that something is wrong.

"What’s going on?" he asks.

"I don’t know, but people seem pretty distracted. Might be why it was easier to sneak food from the stands earlier."

He feels torn between both sides. He does agree with Michael and thinks that this is probably a good thing for them, but the ‘future king’ part of him wants to find out what’s wrong with the people in his kingdom.

Maybe Michael has it easier than him in the sense that he doesn’t have to worry about things like this. Gavin isn’t even in charge of these people yet, but he still feels responsible to make them happy and satisfied during their day to day life.

"We should ask somebody," he murmurs, trying to subtly hide his face from a guard that they walk past.

"Like who?"

"I don’t know. Anybody."

"It doesn’t matter. It’s probably just some dumb crap about the royal family or something."

"Royal family?"

"Yeah, if something bad happens then everybody gets upset along with them. Once the king broke his leg or something while riding a horse and everybody mourned about it like someone died," Michael rolls his eyes.

Gavin remembers that. He was actually the reason that Geoff had fallen off his horse in the first place. They were goofing around and acting like children, much like they always do when just the two of them hang out. Gavin was in tears with laughter when Geoff got hurt, and then continued to laugh through the entire recovery process.

"Do you think something serious has happened?" he asks, growing worried.

If Geoff gets hurt when with him, then it’s funny. But the fact that Geoff (or any other member of his family) could be hurt right now without him knowing about it is terrifying.

"Who cares?"

"I do," Gavin says, almost childishly, but Michael pays no attention to it.

"Come on, we’ve still gotta get you another apple to replace the one you gave away."

"The poor boy was crying, Michael!"

"How is that our problem?" Gavin lets out an annoyed huff in response but Michael just laughs.

*

The thought of stealing doesn’t worry him so much anymore. Watching Michael do it so easily has helped calm him down a little bit, but he still doesn’t think he’d be able to do it himself.

This time it doesn’t go so smoothly.

It all happens so fast that Gavin can hardly keep up or catch any details as to what’s going on around him.

When Michael swipes an apple, the man behind the stand notices. One second everything is fine, and then the next people are yelling and Michael is pulling him away in a quick hurry.

"Fucking run, asshole!" Michael says to him, but Gavin’s brain still hasn’t caught up to the fact that they’ve been seen.

He can briefly hear somebody yelling out after them, but he tries to just focus on keeping up with Michael and not tripping over his own two feet.

It’s only when they turn a corner and are faced with a dead end that their forced to stop running. Nothing runs through Gavin’s head besides fear. He’s never been on the wrong side of the law before or had to run away from guards. It’s actually pretty terrifying when he hadn’t just been doing something silly and fun like playing in a fountain.

"Fuck," Michael curses under his breath, and he’s able to drag Gavin another direction but they’re grabbed before they can do anything about it.

Maybe something serious really has happened if the palace guards are treating a small theft so seriously. He isn’t exactly sure what he should be more worried about, his family or the fact that he and Michael are in major trouble right now.

"Let us go!" Michael yells out angrily, and wildly kicks his feet in a futile effort to get away.

The area that they’ve ran to isn’t as crowded as where they’d stolen the apple, so there aren’t any people around to stop and stare at them being captured like this.

One guard is holding Gavin in place, mainly because he isn’t as aggressive as Michael and not so quick to fight back. He’s more paralyzed into fear at this point. He just stands there in silent panic, too terrified and worried to move or say anything.

The other two are holding Michael, but he’s really fighting hard against them. They hardly even flinch, obviously used to people trying to get away from them in situations like this.

The grip on his arm tightens and he almost wants to cry out from the pain. He hadn’t realized how strong the palace guards are.

"The punishment for stealing in these parts is clear. We caught you both and you have to suffer the consequences."

Gavin isn’t too familiar with the town itself, but knows enough about the laws to understand that they may spend a long time in the dungeon even if it’s just a petty crime such as stealing a few items.

"You can’t do this!"

"Gavin didn’t steal anything! It was all me! Let him go, just fucking take me, you pieces of shit!" Michael yells.

This is all Gavin’s fault. Michael would never have been caught if it weren’t for him. It was fun while it lasted, but it’s obvious that he can’t pretend to be a normal boy anymore. He isn’t going to make Michael suffer just because he doesn’t want him to find out the truth.

He looks up at the guard that’s holding him and puts on his serious face. Geoff often refers to it as his son’s ‘ _Going to be the king of all you bitches soon_ ' face whenever he gets annoyed with somebody in the castle.

"I’m Gavin Free." he states coldly, "Son of King Geoffrey and Queen Griffon Ramsey. If you don’t let me go right now, I’ll have you arrested."

He hates to sound like such a self righteous snob, but right now all he’s worrying about is not getting Michael into massive trouble. If the boy was right earlier, then he really doesn’t need to be the reason that somebody is killed for petty crimes.

Luckily they recognize him immediately once they really take the time to look at him, and a large majority of the guards have heard him talk before and are familiar with his accent. He feels the grip on his arm loosen until he’s completely free of the hold. The guards that had attacked them back away once they make the connection.

"Our apologizes, Prince Gavin. We did not know who you were," one says, and they all bow slightly.

Gavin winces at the title placed before his name. Although it’s impossible to deny at this point, he’s never been a big fan of flaunting his status to others (even though everybody usually already knows.)

But he’s still instantly relieved that they’ve recognized him so quickly. They haven’t let go of Michael yet and still have him in their tight hold, but he’s still witnessing all of this. The guards are still bowing and probably praying that Gavin won’t hold a grudge against them.

"You’re a  _prince_!?” Michael yells, his eyebrows furrowed together in nothing but anger.

Bollocks.

"Oh…" Gavin lets out a weak and forced laugh as he scratches the back of his neck, "Did I forget to mention that?"


	2. Chapter 2

Gavin jumps when the guard’s tighten their grip on Michael’s arms, causing him to cry out in pain. His eyes scrunch up and he bites down on his lip to avoid cursing out.

"Do not speak to your prince in such a manner," one snaps at him, using his free hand to smack him upside the head.

"Stop it!" Gavin demands.

He attempts to keep his face straight so that he can seem more in control of this situation, but on the inside he feels slightly panicky. He isn’t sure if it’s because he’s uncomfortable with the sight of Michael being in trouble because of him, or the on looming fear of his parents reactions to all of this.

Probably a little bit of both.

"We apologize again, Prince Gavin, but the king and queen have requested your safe return. And to arrest anybody of suspicion for your kidnapping."

The words make Gavin’s eyebrows shoot up in confusion. “ _Kidnapping_!? I wasn’t kidnapped! I’ve only been gone for a day! Now let him go!”

"I’m afraid we can’t do that, you’ll have to discuss it with the king and queen."

Gavin glares at him and lets out a huff of annoyance. If they want to be stubborn then two can play at that game. He crosses his arms defiantly and holds his head high as he boldly says, “No.”

He’s never exactly been a spoiled child. Although being a prince growing up in an extravagant palace didn’t turn him into an arrogant brat, Geoff and Griffon have been great parents and are good at teasing him into line. But he’s willing to act like something he’s not, just in hopes that he’ll scare the them into letting Michael go.

The guards all look at one another in silence, even Michael watches the exchange with reluctance and curiosity as to what they’re going to do next.

"I am not going to see the king and queen. I am staying right here until you let Michael go. And that’s  _final,_ " Gavin states, with a firm stomp of his foot.

*

And that’s how Gavin finds himself being carried back to the castle. Thrown over the shoulder of one of the guards like a sack of potatoes. He’d spent the first few moments kicking and yelling to be put down, but eventually gave up due to the exhaustion. These guards are just a little too strong and he didn’t loosen himself out of the grasp at all. Not like he would really want to anyways, the guards are also very tall and nose diving into the ground at this height isn’t exactly ideal.

Every so often he has to lift his view from the guards back, both to avoid the blood rushing to his head and to see how far away from the castle they are. It doesn’t last long though, because every time he looks up it proves that Michael still hasn’t stopped glaring at him.

He isn’t sure if Michael is mad at him because he’s about to be arrested or if it’s because he lied about his royalty status, but either way it fills Gavin with a sense of dread and regret.

He wonders if anybody else has felt so helpless and weak in a situation that they’ve put themselves into. This is obviously all his fault. He just  _had_ to be a rebellious little brat and leave the castle. He just  _had_ to stick his big nose where it didn’t belong, didn’t he?

If he hadn’t bumped into Michael, then everything would be okay. Michael would be happily free to steal from food carts and sleep in his makeshift home. Geoff and Griffon wouldn’t be worried out of their minds. And finally, Gavin would be back to being stuck within the boring walls of the castle. Just like he always is.

Looking back on it he isn’t sure if he regrets it or not. Meeting Michael had been an added bonus to his ‘get away for a while’ plan, but now it was turning more negatively. If he has to be honest with himself, he likes Michael. Kind of a lot. Not that he’s eager to admit that right now as they’re being dragged back to the castle against their will, but the point still stands. He fancies Michael, but right now that fact doesn’t do anything other than make him feel even more guilty for his capture.

If he could turn back time and stop himself from meeting Michael then he would. His time spent with the boy might have been the best time of his entire life, but he’d give it up if it meant none of this were happening.

Michael not knowing him at all is better than Michael hating him.

"Oh, you’ve found him!" he hears a voice cheer excitedly.

Gavin looks up to see that they’re entering the castle, and it’s one of the cooks greeting them, probably just finished of her days work.

"Hi, Patty," he says, his voice holding a defeated and exhausted tone. She smiles warmly at him and crosses her arms in amusement as they walk past her and into the castle.

"Bring the boy down to the dungeons," the guard carrying him says to the others, "I’ll take the prince to the king and queen."

"No, wait!" Gavin cries, reaching out pathetically to Michael, who’s being taken in the opposite direction of them. He struggles even harder, not wanting to lose sight of the boy, but it’s quite clearly a losing battle. "Let him go! Please!"

Nobody even responds to him, and he’s never felt so helpless and weak. All he can do is watch with annoyance as they walk further and further into the castle, presumably getting closer to where his parents are located.

Michael must hate him.

Which is quite fitting, because he rather hates himself at the moment.

"We’ve found him, Your Majesties," the guard announces after opening the door to his father’s study.

"Gavin!" his parents cry as he finally feels himself being lowered to the ground.

Before the guard can entirely leave the room, Gavin glares at him indignantly. It doesn’t last long because as soon as the door closes he’s engulfed into his parent’s arms.

"Oh my goodness, we were so worried! You’re back, thank heavens you’re okay. We thought we’d never see you again," they’re both speaking so quickly and both at the same time that its hard to make out anything they’re saying.

He tries to shove them away, only because there are more important matters at hand, but they’re too busy checking to see if he’s alright and praising his return.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt? What happened? Who did this?" the questions spew from both of their mouths at different rates. Griffon’s between kisses that she’s planting all over his cheeks and forehead, and Geoff’s while checking him for any injuries.

"I’m fine!" Gavin cries, taking a step back. "I’m alright, I swear."

They both let out sighs of relief, and Gavin instantly feels guilty for making them worry so much. It’s obvious that they both just really care about him and during the time he was gone they must have been worried sick. He can even make out hints of tears in their eyes.

He hates himself even more than he’d originally thought.

"I’m sorry," he murmurs, finally accepting their hugs and relishing the feeling of being in their safe arms.

"We’re just so happy that you’re okay. You don’t have to be sorry for anything. Now tell us what happened. Who did this?" Geoff says, a warm hand resting on his son’s shoulder.

"Nobody did anything. I left on my own."

Then their eyes widen with confusion, “On your own?”

"Yes. I just wanted to get out of the castle for an hour or so. I didn’t mean to make you think I was missing."

And with that simple admission, his fathers attitude does a complete 180. 

"You were gone for a whole day, Gavin!" Geoff practically shouts, clearly over the delight of having his son back already. "Your mother and I were worried sick!"

"I got lost. I couldn’t find my way back," he murmurs weakly, almost terrified of his father when he raises his voice like this.

Sometimes it’s odd how quickly Geoff can switch from being his best friend to strict father. It’s probably a good thing that he can be both to Gavin, but it’s also terrifying all at the same time. Even more so when it changes so quickly and leaves Gavin feeling like a rug has been pulled out from under his feet.

Griffon runs a comforting hand through his hair, and holds him close to her again. “Just tell us what happened.”

"…You won’t get mad?"

Griffon shoots Geoff a look, who just sighs in annoyance.

"Fine. I won’t get mad. Tell us about your bullshit adventure that caused your mother and I to think you were dead."

"Geoff," she scolds.

"What!? It’s true! We didn’t know what happened to you, we didn’t know if we’d ever get to see you again."

"It was only a day, Geoff," Gavin supplies weakly, "I only wanted to get out for a little bit. The castle is so boring especially when I’m not allowed to leave it. I just feel like I’m suffocating in here all the time."

He stares down at his feet and worry grows inside him as the silence following his words doesn’t seem to under. Geoff finally sighs, but this time it’s one of defeat.

Gavin looks up to see his father coming near him again, placing the hand back onto his shoulder.

"Okay," he says, "Tell us what happened."

And so he does. He tells them everything. Starting from leaving the castle and how he felt so relieved to finally get some fresh air that didn’t just come from the garden. Bumping into Michael and practically getting jumped by him. Talking with him, becoming fast friends, and agreeing to a tour. Playing in the fountain and running away from guards all while laughing and finally having fun again. Going back to Michael’s make-shift home and spending the night there. Being taught how to steal even though he did a horrible job about it. And finally being caught by the guards, being forced to tell the truth about his royal title, and then being dragged back to the castle.

He tells them every single detail, although leaving out the ones where he was fawning over Michael and the parts where they kissed or held hands. He knows his parents well enough that they would just tease him over that.

Geoff and Griffon don’t interrupt during his entire story, just intently listening and nodding at the appropriate parts. So when Gavin finally finishes, they both just pull him in for another hug and he feels Griffon kiss the top of his head comfortingly.

"Michael isn’t bad," Gavin tries to explain, "He didn’t kidnap or hurt me in any way. He was nice to me when he thought that I was just some idiotic runaway and even offered to help though he had nothing to gain from it. He doesn’t deserve to be down in the dungeons."

It feels good to finally tell somebody that will listen to him as opposed to the guards who just brushed off his words.

"Calm down, it’s okay," she murmurs into his hair, "We’ll sort it all out."

"You will?"

"Yes," she nods as she pulls away from him, and then looks at her husband, "Right, Geoff?"

"I don’t know, it’ll-" he lets out a loud groan when she elbows him harshly in the side. "We’ll sort it out," he forces the words out through the searing pain in his ribs.

Gavin grins and hugs his mother again, relieved to have such understanding parents.

"You like Michael, don’t you?" she says knowingly.

Maybe not  _that_ relieved to have understanding parents.

"No, of course not!" he attempts, but he’s never been good at lying. Especially to his own parents, they’ve always been able to tell when something is up.

Griffon just smirks at him and even Geoff rolls his eyes.

"It doesn’t matter anyways," Gavin continues, "Because he hates me now. I lied to him and let him believe that I was something that I’m not. Now he knows the truth and thinks I’m an arse."

"You kind of are," Geoff mutters, but bites back a cry of pain as Griffon elbows him in the same spot again.

"I’m sure he’ll understand when you explain yourself," she offers, but it does not to calm the concern inside of him.

"Can I go talk to him now?"

"No," Geoff states, "You’re still in trouble."

"What!? What for?"

"For running away and letting us think you were missing. You don’t think we’ve forgotten about that, do you?"

"But I told you what happened!"

"That doesn’t change the fact that you went against us and left us here worried sick."

"Griffon!" Gavin tries, looking to his mother for help, but she just shrugs . It appears she agrees with Geoff, and Gavin is now on his own.

He looks between his two parents helplessly, knowing that this is an argument he isn’t going to win. “But what about Michael?”

"I’ll work on his release and then go talk to him tomorrow," Geoff says.

"But that means he’ll be in there overnight! He didn’t do anything wrong! He shouldn’t be in there at all!"

"It’s out of our control, Gav," Griffon murmurs, running a comforting hand up and down his back. He feels like such a whiny baby, arguing with his parents while his mother whispers reassurances to him, but he can’t help it.

"Now, go to your room and don’t come out for the rest of the day," Geoff states firmly.

Although his parents love him and want nothing but the best for him, they’re still the king and queen. What they say goes and there’s no point in trying to fight against it.

Also, he’s still exhausted after the long day that he’s had. Fighting against the guards has really tired him out and he’s relieved to be back with his parents. He’s missed them a lot, even if he’s in trouble.

"Fine," he mutters, "I’ll be in my room."

They both press a kiss to each of his temples and it makes him want to stubbornly push them away, but he’s also highly amused by it at the same time.

"Hey, Gavin," Geoff says as he turns to leave.

"Yeah?"

"We’re  _really_  happy you’re okay.”

He nods, trying to keep the smile off his face. Geoff is still just a big softie and that’s something that’s bound to never change.

"Thanks."

"We love you, kiddo."

Gavin rolls his eyes and has to turn away so that they don’t see his grin. “Love you too,” he responds, lacing his voice with annoyance as though it’s a chore to say it.

*

The guilt hasn’t left him all day, even while he just sat in his room with only his thoughts to entertain him. All he could think about was Michael being stuck down there, probably hating him.

It must be dark down there, and cold.

Michael already has to sleep in worse enough conditions, all Gavin’s really done is make it worse for him.

While he laid awake in bed during the late hours of night, he knew that he wasn’t going to get any sleep while these thoughts are haunting his brain. He needs to talk to Michael and explain himself in some way. Even if it ends with the boy screaming at him and telling him to get lost.

It took a long time for him to finally build up the courage to leave his bedroom and walk down the long dark hallways. There are guards everywhere, and he knows that making even the slightest amount of noise could get him caught.

He’s never been good at sneaking around.

Gavin takes a deep breathe as he attempts to creep down the stairs as quietly as possible. The downside to living in a castle is that people are always around all hours of the day. Luckily it’s not as busy as mornings, but there are still guards at alert in and around during night.

He isn’t sure if Geoff’s informed the guards of his “grounding,” but he doesn’t want to risk the chance of one of them spotting him. It would most likely only end in him being sent back to his room, and then getting a scolding in the morning.

But he’s willing to risk it if it means talking to Michael again.

The boy probably hates him, but he  _needs_ to apologize and explain himself. Even if it only ends in heartbreak and disappointment. He still isn’t even sure what he’s going to say once (and if) he reaches him.

He’s been to the dungeons before, but only when their empty. According to the castle staff, it ‘ _isn’t safe for a young prince_.’ Although he doesn’t believe their words, the thought of going down there all on his own at night does terrify him.

Other than the torches lining the walls, the only thing saving him from being surrounded by total darkness is the lit candle he’s carrying with him. It doesn’t provide much light, and might be creating a more creepy atmosphere than he wants, but at least he isn’t stumbling or tripping with every step.

He’s also thankful that it’s night because that means that any prisoners down here are probably sleeping. He doesn’t fancy the idea of them reaching through the bars of their prison and grabbing at him or threatening him if he doesn’t let them out.

"Michael?" he whispers, and he walks down the cell hallway.

The only thing separating the prisoners are the stone walls and bars. He occasionally peers into one with his light to see if it’s his friend, but shudders with fear whenever he sees a sleeping stranger.

He calls out the name again, giving it a musical tune in an attempt to lighten the mood for himself. Prince’s aren’t supposed to be scared. They’re supposed to be fearless, aren’t they? His instructor would be yelling at him right now.

Gavin says it again as he peers into another cell, but lets out a startled gasp as he comes face to face with another person.

He isn’t given any time to register what they look like before he’s grabbed by the collar of his shirt and harshly pressed against the bars. His hand automatically reaches forward to keep his candle steady so that it doesn’t fall to the ground and destroy his light source. He’s also left at an awkward angle because his face is being pulled forward while the rest of his body is away to keep from burning himself with the candle.

He’s about to scream, but through the darkness he recognizes the face in front of him as Michael’s.

He’s wearing the same clothing as earlier, and he still looks just as annoyed. His eyebrow is raised at the reaction and it’s apparent that he’s very annoyed.

"H-Hi, Michael," he murmurs, his voice trembling.

"Hey," Michael says with a smirk that holds no amusement. "What’s up?"

Although he looks ridiculously pissed off, Gavin can’t help but admire his face for a moment. Just the fact that he’s still here, alive and breathing. Just as in one-piece as he was before. Not even a freckle on his face missing or a hair out of place.

"It’s  _you_. You’re… You’re okay,” Gavin responds, his voice breathy and shaky after that tiny scare.

He isn’t sure why he feels so relieved that Michael is in one piece. Being in the dungeon might be an awful experience, but it’s safe down here. The guards aren’t abusive towards prisoners in any way so it isn’t like he could have gotten hurt, but Gavin is still thankful that Michael is alright. That his only complaints consist of Gavin himself being an asshole and not his current living conditions.

"What? You mean they didn’t behead me yet for kidnapping the fucking prince? Who turns out to be  _you_?”

Gavin isn’t able to respond to that. His brain just isn’t able to put together the words and force his mouth to communicate them. Instead he just stands there, his mouth opening and closing slightly.

Michael scoffs and rolls his eyes. Instead of calling him a moron, like he wants to, he instead roughly shoves Gavin away. He stumbles and almost falls over, but somehow manages to regain his balance. Michael pays no attention it though.

"What the hell are you doing down here, Gavin? Oh, wait,  _my apologizes_. I meant  _Prince_ Gavin. I am  _so_ sorry, should I bow to you when you enter the room?” he asks, sarcastically as he continues to glare.

"Michael-"

"No. What the fuck, Gavin. You’re fucking royalty and lied to me about it!?"

"Technically I didn’t lie!"

"Oh, well my fucking bad for not asking somebody if they’re a prince. I’ll have to start asking every single person I bump into on the streets if they’re the goddamn son of the king and queen."

Gavin looks down, the volume at which Michael is yelling at him is kind of terrifying. Not just because the prisoners around them might wake up, but because Michael himself can be very loud and aggressive when he wants to be.

"I’m sorry!" Gavin cuts off his angry rant, but then once he starts, he finds himself unable to stop. "I’m  _so_ sorry! Please, Michael! I didn’t mean to betray you or hurt your feelings. I just… I spend all day in this castle and hardly ever get to leave. I just wanted to get out for a little bit. To taste the freedom of not being constantly watched by guards or teachers. I didn’t mean to hurt anybody or lie to them. But, then I met you. And you were so great. And I was actually having fun for the first time in who knows how long. But I didn’t want to tell you because you were being so nice to me and I thought you would treat me differently once you found out. I’m sorry! I’m a selfish jerk and I completely understand if you hate me.”

"Jesus, Gavin, calm the hell down," he mutters, "I didn’t catch a damn word of that."

Gavin lets out a deep sigh, trying to catch his breath once again after speaking so quickly without many pauses. “Sorry.”

"And stop apologizing, it’s really beginning to piss me off."

"Sorry."

"I swear, Gavin. If there weren’t bars between us, I would kick your ass right now."

Silence passes between them for a few moments, Michael glare softening as it continues. Now that’s he’s gotten out his immediate anger over the situation out by roughing Gavin up and yelling at him, he’s left with the actual consequences of speaking to the boy like an adult.

"I lied to you," Gavin finally says quietly, "Or rather, I didn’t tell you the truth. And that was wrong of me. You were nice enough to take me in when you thought I had nothing left and you had no ulterior motives. And, I took advantage of that. I’m sorry for apologizing again… but I’m  _sorry_. I truly am, and I know that doesn’t make anything better. But, it’s the most I can really do at the moment.”

Michael just stares at him for the longest time, and Gavin is hesitant on if he should say anything else or not. He doesn’t want to make things any worse by saying something stupid.

"Okay," Michael murmurs, nodding his head slightly, "Okay, fine. Whatever."

Gavin raises his eyebrow, “You forgive me?”

"No. Not a chance." he shakes his head, "But, I don’t hate you."

That’s a lot better than never wanting to speak with him again. At least he’s speaking in a normal tone and volume again and Gavin is able to make out the small smile forming on his lips. That’s a start.

"Alright," Gavin nods slowly, with a hopeful tone to his voice, "So, we’re friends again?"

"We were friends before?"

Gavin giggles, reaching through the bars to shove Michael’s shoulder playfully. The boy doesn’t react negatively and instead lets out a laugh that makes Gavin’s insides go warm again. Okay, this is definitely the best this could have turned out.

"What the fuck are you doing down here, man? Isn’t it kind of dangerous?"

The concern fills Gavin’s stomach with even more of that warm feeling, but he attempts to ignore it in favor of actually holding a conversation. “Yeah, I’m supposed to be in bed right now. But, I couldn’t sleep knowing that you were down here angry at me.”

"Would you get in trouble if someone caught you?"

"Yes, I’m already in enough trouble for sneaking out of the castle and causing everybody to think I was missing."

"So you risked all of that to come down to this dark ass dungeon and apologize?"

"You’re worth the trouble." he smiles, but to avoid sounding like such a moron he continues, "Besides, me getting a scolding is better than you being left down here by yourself."

"Oh please, you just didn’t want me to kick your ass."

"Yeah, that is tru-" he snickers through his words, but is cut off by the loud gasp that escapes his lips when he feels a pair of arms grab him from behind.

Fear rips through him as rough unknown hands wrap around his middle. Being down in the dungeon and getting attacked was what he was most terrified of, and now that it’s actually happening he’s only just coming to realize how completely unprepared he was for it. If he was scared it would happen, why didn’t he bring down some kind of weapon or a way to defend himself?

He’s roughly being pulled to somebody’s body and he grips onto the cell bars in order to keep himself from being dragged off. Michael isn’t able to do anything to protect him when he’s trapped like that, but the thought to being away from the boy scares Gavin even more. Just the thought of being dragged off and attacked by an unknown stranger is enough to terrify him in the first place.

He briefly hears Michael yelling out his name with panic, and Gavin’s about to scream, “Let me go!” when a rough hand covers his mouth.

It only causes him to panic more and he struggles even more in the hold. Kicking and flailing his legs and body in a weak attempt to get away. He isn’t strong or skillful when it comes to attacks or fights, it’s always been his weak point.

"What the fuck are you doing out of bed?" a familiar voice says from behind him.

Gavin stops struggling and instead goes limp, relief flooding his sense when he realizes he isn’t in any danger at all. And just like that the air goes from tense to peaceful again, but it doesn’t last long because he grows annoyed when he hears the chuckling.

"Geoff!" he cries after ripping the man’s hand away from his mouth, "You bloody scared me half to death!"

He turns to see his father standing there smugly, crossing his arms with a smirk on his face, “Good, I hope I did. Should teach you not to try and sneak out to come visit your little boyfriend down in the dungeons.”

Gavin’s eyes widen in embarrassment, “I-I was not! And he’s not my boyfriend!”

Michael’s hand is resting almost possessively on his shoulder through the bars, probably feeling conflicted about the events that just took place. He’s never actually met Geoff before, so it isn’t a surprise that he’s hesitant to trust him, especially after that scare.

"Uh-huh, sure," Geoff says with a roll of his eyes.

"What are  _you_ doing anyways?” Gavin questions, desperate to get as far away from this topic as possible.

"I knew you’d try to sneak down here. Didn’t think you would make it this far actually. Would probably be proud of you if you weren’t directly disobeying me."

"Sorry," Gavin murmurs, "I just… wanted to talk to Michael."

"Nah, don’t apologize. I actually am proud of you. Gaining a little backbone is good even though I’d prefer if it weren’t  _my_ words you were going against,” he shrugs, and then turns to the boy within the cell, and a teasing grin spreads across his face. “So, this is the Michael you ran off with.”

Gavin lets out an annoyed huff, cursing the fact that Geoff can so easily pick and choose when to be either a responsible king or embarrassing father.

"Yes," Michael says, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Been hearing a lot about you, boy," he muses, "Mainly legal things about your imprisonment, but also a lot from Gavin himself."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. Says you didn’t kidnap him and that you don’t deserve to be down here. Is that true?"

"I don’t know. I mean, I didn’t know he was a prince, but I guess I did technically kidnap him?"

"He did not!" Gavin argues, "I let him believe that I was just some defenseless runaway and he welcomed me a place to stay."

"A place to stay? Really?"

"Yeah," Michael shrugs, trying not to show how intimidated he feels at the moment. It’s hard not to when you’re behind palace bars being questioned by the goddamn king. "I let him crash at my place."

"And you didn’t know he was a prince? At all? You just did it out of the goodness of your heart?"

He shrugs nonchalantly. “Probably the last bit of good that’s left in it.”

"Hmm," Geoff hums in thought, "Gavin, go back upstairs to bed. I want to talk more with Michael here."

"What!?" he cries, "No! That isn’t fair! I want to hear what’s happening!"  
  
"I’ll tell you about it in the morning, but for now, bed."

"But-"

"Gavin."

Gavin looks between Geoff and Michael. Geoff is giving him the ‘you-better-fucking-listen-to-me-right-now’ look, and Michael doesn’t seem very willing to come to his defense. Can’t really blame him though, he’s probably trying his hardest to stay as far away from the king’s bad side as possible.

Geoff may have praised him a little for disobeying orders, but it’s clear that he isn’t messing around right now.

"Do I have to?" he manages to say in a quiet voice.

"Yes. You shouldn’t be down here anyways, it’s dangerous."

"The only danger was you grabbing me from behind and nearly scaring me to death!"

"Go back to bed, kid. I’ve gotta talk to your boyfriend."

Gavin glares at him one last time before finally obeying orders and leaving Michael and Geoff to talk. He considers eavesdropping, but knows it will only end in Geoff catching him and extending the amount of time he’s in trouble.

Besides, even with his parental figure being close by, the dungeons are still giving him the creeps. He has to admit that his safe and warm bedroom sounds a lot better right now than spending another second down here. So with the knowledge of Michael’s safety and (sort of) forgiveness, he starts the walk back to his bedroom.

*

"Rise and shine, asshole!" he hears a familiar voice screams into his ear.

Gavin sits up in bed immediately, his eyes wide open in fright from the sudden loudness disturbing his dreams. Being woken up in such a way is never exactly pleasant, but when he turns to see Geoff grinning wildly at him, it makes the experience ten times worse.

"Are you serious?" he groans, and allows himself to collapse back against his pillows.

He’s incredibly tired after staying up so late to talk to Michael. He isn’t sure how much sleep he’s gotten, but it can’t be much. After a night of sleeping on the cold floor of an abandoned shop, his bed has never been warmer or comfier.

"Wake up, sleeping beauty," Geoff continues to taunt with a sing song tone.

Gavin can’t even be bothered to respond, much more content to pull the covers over his face and continue sleeping.

A few peaceful moments pass and he begins to think that maybe Geoff has decided to let him sleep for a few more minutes.

That is until he feels the covers being ripped away from him. Just as he’s about to open his eyes and complain, shock rips through his body. His body reacts before he can even register the cold water drenching him entirely.

A much less pleasing way to wake up compared to slowly drifting into consciousness to find Michael peacefully snoozing next to him.

“ _Geoff!_ " he screams out, as he turns to see his father standing there with an empty bucket.

"I told you to wake up."

"You just-"

"Yes, yes, I dumped water on you, but that’s not important."

"Why would you do that!?" he cries, his teeth chattering slightly and his arms failing around as he has no idea what to do with them to represent his shock and annoyance.

"I needed you to wake up quickly."

"You couldn’t have just asked me to wake up?"

"Well, I did that! You weren’t cooperating! But at least you’re awake, now get up! I have plans!" Geoff announces and begins walking away from the bed and towards the wardrobe. Gavin groans again but stubbornly refuses to crawl out of his (now damp) bed. Despite being wide awake now, his body still feels sluggish and craves sleep.

"What does that have to do with me?"

"As you know, I talked to Michael last night."

"Yes, and if you don’t tell me everything after what you’ve just done, I’m going to be very annoyed."

"Oh boo hoo," Geoff mocks as he begins throwing clothing at Gavin, "You’ll get over it when I tell you that Michael is a free man."

Gavin perks up immediately and pulls away the shirt that was thrown at the face, “He’s free? Really?”

"Yes, released him this morning. Poor kid had to stay in the dungeons all night though, that was completely out of my control. But, he’s back on the streets."

All annoyance he’d held towards Geoff for the wake up call vanishes instantly and he almost wants to jump out of bed to hug him.

"Thank you so much, Geoff! I told you Michael was good, didn’t I?"

"Yeah, yeah, you did. Which is why I want him to come over next week."

Gavin stops his celebration and gives his father a confused look. “Next week? But aren’t we… busy next week?”

Every month or so, his kingdom holds a ball. It consists of the neighboring realms visiting to attend and have a boring party. Gavin despises it because it’s usually just older people being proper and dancing to classical music. He’s also expected to be an elegant and respectful prince the entire night and any misbehaving or mistakes will usually get him scolded by the guests.

The only times it’s ever fun is when one of his friend’s kingdoms attend and they get to sneak off and have fun instead, but he already knows that nobody is coming so it’s just going to be him tonight, trying to suffer through the boring alone.

"Yes, the ball is then. I want you to invite Michael."

Gavin raises an eyebrow with suspicious, “You want to invite Michael to a ball?”

"Yes."

"A  _ball_?”

"I just said yes."

"Why!?"

"Because I like him. He’s a funny kid, and I highly approve of you courting him."

Gavin sputters for a few minutes until Geoff flings more clothing at him, this time it’s pants. “I’m not courting him! We’re just friends. Which is surprising because he should hate my guts after what happened yesterday.”

"So you and your boyfriend had a little fight, big deal."

"I wouldn’t call you throwing him in the dungeon a little fight."

"Stop complaining and get dressed. I want you to go find Michael and invite him to the ball."

"He’s going to say no." he points out as he begins to take off his shirt. Michael hasn’t outright said that he dislikes the rich and high class, but judging by his previous words and actions, Gavin’s willing to bet that he won’t be eager to jump at the opportunity to spend a night with them.

"I don’t care. Bribe him. Buy him a house. Give him food. Propose. Do whatever it takes."

Gavin ignores his suggestions at bribery and instead gives him a suspicious look. “Do you have something planned?”

"Honestly, no. I just really like the kid, and I know that  _you_ really like the kid. So, I’m doing you a favor.”

"How is this doing me a favor?"

"Because I’m hooking you two up. You should be grateful to have such an understanding father."

"You’re terrible. You are aware of that, right?"

"Yes. But you’re going to think of me as even more terrible when I tell you that you aren’t allowed to leave the castle without guards escorting you."

"What!? No! How am I supposed to ask Michael to come to a ball if I’m being babysat?"

"It’s not babysitting, more like…" he thinks for a moment, "Keeping you from running off and getting lost again like a complete moron. Where does Michael live again?"

"In that old abandoned produce shop on the far North. Why does that matter? I am  _not_ going to go talk to him when I’m being watched by guards.”

"You’re still in trouble from yesterday, remember? Griffon and I were worried sick, we don’t want you running off and being stupid again."

He’s reminded of the guilt he’d felt yesterday after seeing how relieved and worried they both were. He’s never even been allowed to leave the castle before, so maybe it isn’t too outrageous to demand that he have guards with him. At least he’s actually being let out on his own without his parents around.

"Okay, fine," he mutters, "But I’m not going to be happy about it."

Geoff just gives him a satisfied smile before leaving the bedroom to let him get changed.

*

Being out with palace guards is even more annoying than Gavin imagined it would be.

They refuse to let him near anything that could be even remotely dangerous. He stumbled over his own foot earlier and they even offered to carry him around to prevent it from happening again.

He’s tried to sneak away a few times, but they catch him immediately and scold him. It’s even worse because then they keep an even closer watch on him.

You’d think trying to escape from three palace guards would be easy, but it really isn’t. Especially when each of them are practically triple the size of you.

Also, people keep rushing over to talk to him or meet the prince. Which is slightly understandable because although they’re probably met the King and Queen numerous times, Gavin is very rarely ever allowed outside. This is the first time they have an opportunity to actually talk to him (that they know of.)

The guards are doing a good job of sending them away so that he isn’t being disturbed, but Gavin doesn’t like that. He wants to be able to talk to people and ask them how they’re doing. To hold real conversations with them or get to know them. He doesn’t want to be seen as the antisocial and cold future king.

Things were a lot easier when they thought he was just a poor peasant boy.

And just as he’s reminiscing about yesterdays events, he happens to see his very favorite poor peasant boy out of the corner of his eye.

Michael is leisurely walking down the street, looking the exact same as last night. His curly hair is still messy and tangled and he’s wearing the same clothes. Gavin’s heart practically leaps at the sight of him and his entire face lights up.

"Michael!" Gavin cries excitedly, waving his arms to catch the boy’s attention. A guard scolds him for something but he pays no attention to it, too eager to see his friend again.

When Michael looks up, an amused smile graces his features. Gavin doesn’t even care about the guards tailing him, and instead runs full speed over to his friend, jumping into his arms and tackling him with a hug.

"Damn, Gavin!" he cries, just barely catching him without losing his balance. Gavin can’t even be bothered to apologize though. He’s missed being close to Michael.

Sure, they may not have known each other for very long, and had last seen each other only the other night, but it’s good to be able to hug him again. Something about the boy is just so comforting and relieving to be around. Gavin isn’t able to describe it with words, but he knows that he doesn’t want to be away from it any longer now that he’s found it.

"Man, am I glad to see you not behind bars," he muses once he finally pulls away.

"I must admit that I’m quite pleased too," he grins, but then gestures to the guards that are speaking to and holding back townspeople trying to get Gavin’s attention. "What the hell are you doing out here? And with… bodyguards?"

Gavin rolls his eyes, “Geoff doesn’t trust me outside of the castle, so this is the best I can do.”

"Well, I say let’s ditch the guards," he murmurs, eyeing them suspiciously.

"I wish I could. They refuse to leave me alone."

"You haven’t had me around to help you though, so we’re going to ditch them now."

"What do you-"

"On my count. One, two-"

"Michael-"

"Three!" Michael grabs his hand and pulls him forward, giving Gavin barely any time to react. He almost trips as he’s dragged behind Michael who’s running much too quickly.

Gavin turns just in time to see the guards noticing them fleeing away. It fills his entire body with the same adrenaline rush it did last time, making him feel overly giddy and mischievous.

He’s never really broken rules before, especially ones that he’s been directly told not to break. Running away from the guards sent out to watch him is definitely going to get him in some trouble, but he doesn’t care. All worry about that washes away when he looks forward and sees Michael grinning back at him.

They aren’t exactly the most graceful as they run. Gavin is stumbling the entire time, and they’re constantly tripping because they aren’t looking what way they’re going. To top it all off, they’re both laughing and Gavin let’s out a loud squeal every time they almost run into somebody.

"It’s the prince!" somebody will scream as they turn a corner, and Michael quickly turns them around and they begin running in the opposite direction. Just trying their hardest to get away from the people.

Gavin isn’t sure if he’s out of breath because of how fast their running or because of how hard he’s laughing.

He also isn’t sure if this exhilarating rush is coming from breaking the rules or from being so close to Michael.

When they finally stop he can’t even take in his surroundings, he just collapses against Michael’s shoulder. His heart is beating so fast and his quick is coming out in quick pants, but he’s still giggling uncontrollably.

"Those guys are hard to outrun," Michael pants.

"We did a pretty top job though, I can’t hear them anymore," he says, trying to listen over the sound of his own heavy breathing. The shouts of his name or title are no longer reaching his ears, and he takes that as a good sign that they’re far enough away.

When he finally looks up, he sees that they’re outside of Michael’s run-down store. It still looks just as shabby and old as it did last time he was here, and he’s thankful for that. It reminds him of Michael in an odd way.

"Man, I can’t believe we just did that," Gavin grins.

"Why? It wasn’t  _that_ difficult. I’ve ran from guards numerous times before, the only difference this time is that they were a little quicker. Probably because you’re the prince, but eh,” he shrugs uncaringly as he opens up the door to the store.

He’s about to enter himself, but then stops and holds open the door for Gavin to walk through, bowing mockingly.

"Your majesty."

"You’re insufferable," Gavin giggles and gives an elegant bow as he finally steps through the doorway.

"I figured you would appreciate that, ya’know, being a prince and all that. I’m actually surprised that I’d gotten you to run away from those guards. Aren’t princes supposed to always follow the rules?"

"You pulled me away with very little warning, I wouldn’t necessarily call that  _me_ breaking rules. More like you being a bad influence.”

Michael shrugs again, jumping up to sit onto a rotting table. It looks almost like it’s ready to collapse under his weight, but it continues to remain steady.

"But it’s okay to let loose and break rules sometimes. You can’t live you’re entire life like a dog on a chain. What happens when you do become king? Are you just going to let others push you around and tell you what to do?"

"Well, no, but-"

"So you’ve gotta stick up for yourself every once in a while. Tell people no sometimes. Refuse to live by their strict rules. It isn’t fair to you that you have to go out of your way to please everybody else."

"I don’t follow  _every_ rule!”

"Oh yeah?" Michael raises an eyebrow, "Other than running away, when was the last time you’ve broken a rule on your own?"

"Um," Gavin racks his brain for an example, "Once I was out in the garden and Geoff told me to come inside but I didn’t?"

Michael gasps dramatically, “Oh wow, what a rebel. I can’t believe this. I’m calling the guards right now and having you arrested. There’s no need to go _that_ crazy, Gav.”

"I have a feeling that you’re being sarcastic."

  
"Of course I’m being sarcastic!" he practically yells, but his smile is giving him away. Sometimes Gavin is just too innocent for his own good.

"Well, what’s the worst thing  _you’ve_ ever done?”

"I don’t fucking know. Basically every single thing I’ve done in my entire life can be thought of as bad."

"Think of one."

He thinks for a moment, trying to cut out all of the ones that would make Gavin disgusted or horrified at his behavior. “I somehow tricked an idiotic prince into liking me. Does that count?” he smiles.

Any minor offensive he’d taken to the previous words washes away and he can’t help the smile that threatens to spread across his face. He attempts to hide his blush as he shyly murmurs, “I guess it does.”

Michael grins, obviously pleased that he was able to make Gavin flustered in such a simple way.

"Oh, I almost forgot! I’m not just visiting for small talk. I, Prince Gavin Free," he says mockingly with a bow, "Have come to give you an official formal and verbal invitation to a  _ball_.”

Gavin smiles almost proudly at the request, but Michael just raises an eyebrow.

"A ball?"

"Uh-huh!" Gavin nods, "You know, with the dancing, and the music, and the fancy dresses."

"I know what a ball is, idiot."

"Oh, okay good! So, will you come?"

"You’re inviting me to a ball? Me?"

"Yes. I just said that."

"Do I look like Cinderella to you?"

"No, of course not. I just figured you might enjoy tagging along?" he murmurs weakly. His smiles drops when he sees the frown on Michael’s face. He knew this was a bad idea, and he just knew that it wouldn’t end well. Geoff’s idiotic plans never tend to go in his favor.

He sighs before continuing, feeling as though he’s fighting a losing battle. “Whenever we usually have one of these things my friends from visiting kingdoms are here to attend, but this time it’s all just boring old people. I figured that now that I finally know somebody my own age, that lives here and doesn’t work in the castle, that he could come and… I don’t know. It’s just extremely boring when there’s nobody else my age. Please Michael?”

"You do realize that you’re inviting a poor kid off of the streets to come to one of your fancy parties, right?"

"Yes," he states while nodding, "But you’re also my friend, aren’t you?"

Michael seems to be swayed by that, but Gavin can still see the reluctance in his eyes. He thinks maybe he should get on his knees and beg or whine, just to humor him.

"There will be food there?" Gavin tries, his voice going a pitch higher with hope that this may be the determining factor.

It works immediately because Michael’s eyes widen at the thought, “There’ll be food? Like… Fancy rich people food?”

"Uh-huh!"

"And I’d be allowed to eat?"

"Of course! You’d be a guest!"

A moment of silence passes between them and Michael just stares at him as he thinks it over.

"I’m in."

"Perfect!" Gavin grins and clasps his hands together, "I’m excited now! This is going to be fun! Geoff will be happy to see you again, oh and you’ll get to meet Griffon. And maybe Ray too. And you’ll get to see me in required prince wear. It’ll be wonderful!"

"Hey, I’m just in it for the food!"

"You are not, you’re totally in it to see me in a dashing suit," he teases, "But that’s okay. I’d totally understand if you were all over me the entire night."

Michael smirks at him and rolls his eyes, while hopping off of the table and walking towards him. “Wow, slow down there, Prince Charming.”

"You think I’m charming?"

"Shut up."

Gavin laughs, enjoying the minor back and forth regardless of how unintelligent and pointless it seems to be.

"I guess I better get back," he says with a smile, "Before everybody thinks that I’m kidnapped again."

"That’s a good idea. I’d rather not spend another night in the dungeons."

Gavin nods, trying to keep the smile off of his face and keep the air as less awkward as possible, “Okay. Well, I’ll see you later?”

"Yeah, sure."

"Okay," he repeats, nodding once again.

Just before he can turn around to leave, Michael cups his right cheek in one hand, and then presses a soft kiss to his left.

"See ya’ later, Princey."

Gavin’s sure his entire face is gone red, and Michael’s smirk only confirms that theory.

"O-Okay," he repeats again, giving a shaky nod, "See you later."

Gavin leaves the store as quickly as possible, not letting the grin overtake his face until he’s walked a few blocks away. Then he’s free to squeal and giggle to himself as much as he pleases.

*

Gavin’s never felt comfortable in the suits he has to wear for formal events. They’re so fancy and he always gets scolded when he accidentally spills something on them. But it’s required, so he had to put up with it at least until the party is over.

When he enters the ballroom, he sees beautiful different colored dresses and suits identical to his. Although he hates the attire, Gavin is rather fond of the balls. Sure they’re usually very strict and he’s expected to be on his best behavior, but they can be fun. Just watching people dancing is always entertaining.

The only downside is that his relatives always try to hook him up with somebody every time they have one of these things. He politely refuses to dance with them, and has actually never danced in this ballroom before. Which is odd considering the fact that he’s been taught how to waltz so many times that he could do it in his sleep.

He’s just never been interested in anybody before. The first they brought to meet him was Princess Barbara, and they were both only around the age of nine at the time. He still remembers meeting her, she was wearing a pretty pink dress and her hair was done up in a fancy up-do. Much too mature and lady-like for such a young girl. They formally shook hands upon introducing themselves to one another and all of the adults in the room grinned and practically started planning the wedding right then and there.

Once left alone to get to know each other, Gavin actually liked Barbara even more because she finally let loose and wanted to have fun. She was a lot like him, always being forced to act prim and proper because of the adults. When alone, they would do silly things like stick bottles in her hair so that she looked like a troll, make silly puns, jump around in the mud outside, slide down the stair banister, or make extremely inappropriate jokes about parts of the male anatomy. They were both scolded hours after first meeting each other. Covered from head to toe in mud, Barbara’s hair still done like a troll, and covered in a few tiny scratches and forming bruises.

Barbara was quickly scratched off of the “Future Queen Free” list not because of their childish behavior, but because Gavin considered her more of a younger sister. They still get into the same mischief whenever their families visit one another.

Prince Dan was next, and their quick friendship made everybody hold their breath with hope. He liked Dan immediately, maybe it was because of their identical accents or because he was strong enough to carry Gavin around. Even though they’re expected to know better and act like gentlemen, they still run around the hallways at top speed, yelling nonsense at the top of their lungs, with Gavin on Dan’s shoulders.

Gavin didn’t like Princess Lindsay originally. They were thirteen and she punched him harshly in the arm for not kissing her hand when offered to him. He was wary of her for the first few days of her visit, but they ended up bonding and becoming friends after she’d brought the horse stable’s cats into the castle, ended up losing all of them, and frantically requested his help before the adults could notice. After all of the felines were found, they took them back to the stables and just played with them there. They ended up talking during this time and telling silly jokes. Their parents found them hours later, laying in the hay, a cat on each lap, and both snoring softly.

He took an immediate liking to Prince Jack because he was so fun to irritate and annoy. He’d never had an older brother before, but after a week of purposely pestering him as much as possible, Jack had easily accepted the role. As irritating as Gavin was, he had to admit he was fond of the boy.

Long story short, Gavin just wasn’t interested in the people they’d bring forth. Sure, he loved them as friends, but not romantically.

Another upside to parties is that sometimes those friends and their families would travel to attend. Sadly, none of them are visiting this time, but Gavin’s alright with it because he knows that’s probably for the better because he’d be too focused on Michael to pay them any attention.

Which is quite apparent right now because as he walks into the ball room his eyes automatically scan the floor for his friend.

It’s crowded with numerous people. All either dancing joyously to the music or mingling with one another. He doesn’t think it’ll be possible to pick out one person from such a large cluster of people, especially when they’re all moving around and making it difficult to keep track.

The colorful dresses and fancy suits have never been something that Gavin’s despised to look at before, but he wishes they didn’t exist at all. He’s eager to pinpoint the exact location of the one boy he’s sure is here in simple peasant clothing.

In fact, it’s rather odd that he hasn’t spotted him yet just by other people pointing him out or whispering about him. Gavin knows what these people are like, especially around those they think aren’t as good as them.

He’s relieved when he spots Geoff, the man standing with another older gentleman. Gavin can’t be sure, but it may be King Monty from RWBY. The man’s always been kind to Gavin, so he doesn’t feel any guilt as he runs up to them.

"Geoff?" he grabs his fathers attention, pulling it away from Monty who just waves off the intrusion without care before walking off.

"Oh, Gavin. You’ve finally made it. Thanks for taking your time though," Geoff greets with a smile, but the sarcasm is not missed.

"Where’s Michael?"

"Looking for your boyfriend already?"

Gavin feels his cheeks heat up as he lets out a very undignified squeak, “He isn’t my boyfriend! I just-“

"Calm down," he smirks, then points across the room lazily, "Your lover boy is over there by the food table. Couldn’t keep him away from it."

Gavin follows the direction and only raises an eyebrow, “Where? I don’t see him.”

"Keep looking. You’ll spot him eventually."

As much as he stares, he can’t see Michael anywhere. Only ladies in elegant ball gowns and men in fancy suits. Some idly chatting to one another and others dancing around gracefully to the soft music being played.

"I don’t bloody see him anywhere, Geoff," he huffs in irritation.

Geoff moves behind him and puts a hand on each side of Gavin’s head, then point it in the direct location of Michael. It still takes a few seconds, but when he feels Gavin’s jaw drop and eyes widen against the very edge of his palms, he knows the boy has finally seen him.

"That’s… That’s Michael?"

"Yup," he beams, finding great joy in his son’s shock, "He cleans up rather well, doesn’t he?"

And it’s true. Gavin was expecting him to be here in his usual state. Old clothes, messed up hair, face smudged faintly with dirt. But there he is. Standing in the middle of a crowd of people, wearing a formal suit. And he isn’t just  _looking_ the part of a nobleman, he’s acting it too. Standing straight, professional look on his face as he talks to the people around him. Nobody suspecting him of being a poor boy who lives on the streets.

Gavin doesn’t bother responding to Geoff because he feels frozen in place. Geoff just smiles, silently proud of his son for finally showing interest in somebody, especially somebody as nice and genuine as that boy Michael. Even if it did take a while, he’s glad it’s happening.

"Come on, let’s go ask lover boy to dance," Geoff says, putting a firm hand on Gavin’s back and guides them both forwards. He’s grateful simply because he knows if it weren’t for that, he’d have stood there all night.

As they moves closer to the group, he witnesses them all laughing at something Michael has said. They all seem intrigued by him, and not in the bad way that Gavin was fearing. He and Geoff stop walking when they hear the conversation taking place, interested in watching Michael attempt to converse with the ‘rich folk.’

"So, Prince Michael, where are you from?" a woman questions.

"One of the neighboring kingdoms. You’ve probably never heard of it." Michael shrugs, taking a sip of his drink in hopes that the questions will stop there.

"So, what made you decide to visit now as opposed to earlier? We’ve never seen you around before," the man standing closest to Michael asks.

"Uh," he says, and Gavin can almost  _see_ him forming excuses in his head, “I’m here to make peace with the king and queen. Clear the bad air between us.”

"You have bad relations with them? Under what cause?"

"Um… I don’t currently. Just a precaution. Ya’know," he shrugs, "Shit happens. Always want to be prepared."

He almost bursts into laughter when he hears Michael casually throw in another particularly foul-mouthed swear word. A woman puts her hand to her mouth in surprise and a few of the men smile, knowing how crude and improper it is to use language like that. Michael doesn’t even seem to notice though and continues on without pausing.

"Hello there, everybody," Gavin cuts in, mostly to save Michael in case anybody decides to call him out on his word choice. Geoff’s holding a hand over his mouth to keep himself from laughing.

"King Ramsey, Prince Free," a few bow in greeting (including Michael, who does it with a mocking smirk), "Marvelous party. Have you met Sir Michael here? He’s an absolute scream."

"Oh really?  _Sir_  Michael.” he shoots Michael a amused look, “Yes, we are well acquainted.”

"He’s a very fine young lad," Geoff says, and puts a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

"Yes, I am!" Michael says, and raises his drink into the air for a toast, "To me!"

Everybody in the small gathering that has a drink raises theirs in the air between their chuckles before taking a sip.

Even if Geoff were holding a drink, he wouldn’t be able to do it because he’s laughing too hard behind his hand. Gavin’s biting his lip to hold back his own chuckles. When Michael notices he subtly glares at him.

"Don’t laugh, I’m trying," he whispers.

"I know, and it’s bloody amazing," he responds, then he turns back to the group, "I actually came over here to ask if I could steal him away from you folks. Is that alright?"

"Oh no, by all means," a woman says, "We’ve heard from King Ramsey that you’ve had your eye set on this one and we wouldn’t want to disrupt that."

Gavin’s face goes pink but Michael simply smirks again, bringing his drink up to his mouth for a sip despite the fact that the liquid makes his stomach churn.

Instead of giving the woman a response, he takes Michael’s drink and hands it to his, still snickering, father before pulling him away by the arm.

"Hey, I was drinking that!"

"Yeah, to look posh and high class," he points out, only looking back to grin at him knowingly. He pulls him through the crowd of people, eager to get to the center of the room.

"Hey, don’t blame me, I’m just trying to fit in with your people."

Gavin grins and stops pulling him, turning around so that they’re facing one another. “ _You_ are officially my people.”

"That doesn’t even make any sense."

He suppresses a laugh as he gives an elegant bow while extending a hand to Michael, who simply raises an eyebrow. “What are you doing?”

"Asking you to dance."

"I don’t know how to dance."

"I thought you were ‘ _playing the part_ ’.”

"Yeah, but dancing is a lot different than swallowing down a gross drink."

"Just follow my lead," he says, almost forcefully bringing them closer to dance.

Michael stumbles a little, “Why do you get to lead?”

"Because I’m the only one out of us who knows how to dance."

"You actually  _know_ how to dance?”

"Obviously, I’m a prince."

"Thanks for reminding me, I almost forgot."

Gavin admires Michael’s attempts to follow his steps, slightly stumbling every few moments but getting the hang of it fairly quickly.

"You’re doing well. Stop worrying."

"How can I not worry? Are you forgetting where I am?"

"I’m just saying that I think you should relax a little."

"Easy for you to say."

Gavin smirks, “You look very handsome.”

"Is that supposed to make me relax?"

"No, I was simply stating a fact," he lies, but is amused that Michael becomes less tense afterwards.

"Well, thanks," he mutters, a tint of red to his cheeks, "You look handsome too."

"Thank you."

Michael raises an eyebrow in confusion and worry as he looks over his shoulder, viewing all of the other people in the ballroom. They’re all moved off of the floor, practically creating a large circle that he and Gavin are dancing in the middle of.

"Everyone is staring at us," he says, "Am I doing something wrong?"

Gavin snickers and gives a quick glance at the people too, “No, I think they’re excited about the fact that I’m finally showing interest in somebody that they approve of.”

  
"They won’t approve when they find out I’m a poor street rat."

"What they don’t know can’t hurt them. Besides, you play the part of a gentlemen really well."

"Oh please, I’ve always been a gentlemen. It’s just been hiding under the dirt and grime of living on the streets my entire life."

"I’m swooning, Michael," he says, with a playful roll of his eyes.

"Sorry, that I keep stepping on your feet," Michael murmurs, "I’m kind of new to this whole prim and proper thing."

"You’re doing rather well. Actually a lot better than I usually do. Whenever one of my friends comes to one of these things we usually sneak off and hang out in the garden."

"You don’t dance with them as everybody else watches on creepily?"

"No, that’s all for you, boy," Gavin grins.

"Well, how about we sneak off too," he suggests, "I think I’ve had my fill of rich life for the day."

"You mean you’ve eaten all you could from the food tables?"

"My stomach might actually explode if I try to eat anything else," he says, trying to hold back his laughter along with Gavin, "You rich folk sure know how to do food."

Gavin giggles, “I am so happy that you came to this, otherwise I would be incredibly bored all on my own.”

"I aim to please."

Everybody continues to watch on, so proud and enthralled, thinking that they’re having a quiet and romantic dance in the middle of the ballroom. But instead they’re just giggling and flirting like immature children. Luckily none of them are close enough to actually hear or see that.

As the band’s song comes to an end, Gavin ends by bowing properly to Michael, who has no idea what to do in response. The sight of seeing him so unsure makes Gavin laugh, but he doesn’t verbally tease him for it.

Instead, he takes Michael’s hand and kisses the back of it as everybody around them claps.

"I would not do that if I were you, who knows where that hand has been," Michael mutters to him. Gavin cringes at the thought, but smiles anyways.

"Come on," he grins mischievously, "Let’s get out of here."

Griffon nudges her husband as she watches the two boys running up the main staircase with their fingers interlocked. Nobody else is paying them any attention now that the dance is over and is much too focused on dancing themselves. Geoff almost chokes on his drink at her more-than-rough nudge.

"What?"

"Look," she points out the two, and he turns just in time to see them before they’ve run out of sight.

"Huh," he murmurs, and takes another swig of his drink, "Where do you think they’re headed off to?"

"Probably the balcony."

"Why do you figure that?"

She smiles at him and presses a kiss to his cheek, “Because that’s where you took me all those years ago.”

*

"I’ve never walked through a castle before," Michael comments as they swing their entwined hands back and forth childishly. He admires the various paintings that adorn the walls and can’t help himself from pointing out the ones he likes most.

"This isn’t your first time being here though," Gavin points out, "Ah, look! That one’s my favorite!"

He eagerly points to a portrait of Geoff and Griffon, dressed in their finest as a younger couple. He’s always been fascinated by his parent’s lives before he came around. Sometimes they tell him stories about the crazy things they used to do together before becoming king and queen, and he’s always eager to listen and laugh with them at their resurfacing memories.

"But the last time I was here I was in the dungeons, so I don’t think that really counts," Michael muses, studying the portrait along with him, "I like your parents. They’re a lot nicer than I really expected a king and queen to be."

"Did you think they would be spoiled and power hungry?"

"Yeah, but it’s pretty obvious that they’re the complete opposite of that."

Gavin hums in agreement, “They’re pretty great. I hope when I become king I can be half as good as them.”

"Think one day you’ll have a portrait of yourself up on this wall?"

"Maybe. I think it’s some kind of required-king thing to have your castle covered in pictures of yourself. Geoff has one in his study where he’s all standing straight and not smiling. I’m constantly teasing him for it."

"I can’t imagine him not smiling long enough for an artist to paint a picture of him like that."

Gavin grins. Most people get annoyed or embarrassed when talking about they’re parents like this, but he likes it. He’s always had an incredible fondness for his parental figures, and the fact that Michael likes them too just makes him fall a little more in love with the boy. Not that he would ever admit that out loud.

"Come on," he says, and pulls Michael away, "This is my room."

He knocks quickly on the door, giving three hard raps. Michael raises a brow, “You have to knock on your own door before entering?”

"Well yeah, there’s somebody in there. I wouldn’t want to be rude."

Before he can ask, the door opens to reveal a boy about their age. He has dark brown hair, is wearing glasses, and is dressed not nearly as fancy and high class as them. But it’s obvious from his attire that he works at the castle.

"Hi, Ray!" Gavin greets excitedly.

"Hey, Gav! Party over already?" he questions, but his eyes widen in surprise when he sees Michael there and he quickly bows. "My apologizes, good day, Sir. I did not intend to be impolite or-"

"Cut the act, Ray," Gavin waves off as they walk into the bedroom, "Michael isn’t like that. In fact, he actually lives on the streets."

Michael laughs at the boy’s confused expression. “Doesn’t look like he’s off the streets. He looks better than  _you_.”

"Not a hard accomplishment," Michael smirks, and Ray lets out a loud laugh.

"I like him, I approve."

"I didn’t come up here for your approval. I came up here to show him the view," Gavin glares playfully, "Now if you wouldn’t mind, I would very much appreciate it if you could bugger off somewhere else."

"But that means I have to go down to the party, and you know how much I hate interacting with people."

"Ray, please?"

He narrows his eyes and lets out an agitated sigh “Fine, fine. You’re lucky you’re the damn prince. I’ll leave you alone to woo your new boyfriend.”

"He isn’t my boyfriend!" Gavin cries, but the door closes before Ray can hear.

Michael ignores his whining friend in favor of looking around his bedroom. It’s very big and exactly what he would expect a prince’s bedroom to look like. Right down to the large canopy bed with puffy pillows and overly fancy curtains that match the (just as fancy) walls.

"So, who was that?" he asks, only vaguely interested as he walks around and studies the room. He wipes his finger across any surface, not surprised to find that it doesn’t hold a spec of dust.

"Ray. Not exactly the words I like to use to describe him, but he’s more or less a personal servant. At least that’s the position he gets paid for. I prefer the term  _best friend that has to do everything I say_.”

"So he isn’t rich? Or the son of some kind of grand duke or whatever?"

"No?"

"And you hang out with him? You consider him to be a friend?"

"Yeah, one of my closest. Why?"

Michael shrugs, “I don’t know. Just thought you’d consider yourself too high class to hang out with the servants or poor folk.”

Gavin smirks, “I’m hanging out with you, aren’t I?”

"Oh shut the fuck up," he shoves his shoulder, "Didn’t you have to show me something?"

"Yes! Come on, I want to show you the view from my balcony."

"Oh yeah, because I’ve never seen a view bef-" Michael trails off his sarcastic comment when Gavin opens the door to reveal the balcony.

The night sky is undeniably beautiful from up here, and it looks even more exquisite against the view of the kingdom. Lights from the homes below are the only things to illuminate the realm, and it’s hard to imagine a more magnificent sight.

"Wow," Michael breathes, admiring the view of both his home and the stars above. It’s breathtakingly beautiful and he can’t imagine ever getting used to a view like this, even if it were right outside his  _own_ bedroom. “This is fucking crazy.”

Gavin smiles softly, not looking at the view at all and instead taking in Michael’s reaction. He just  _knew_ that the boy would love it. It’d be hard not too. Even he has to admire it from time to time, he often comes out here to think on stressful days.

"I just can’t believe that I’m  _here_.”

Gavin gives him a curious look, “What do you mean?”

"I mean… if you told me a week ago that I’d be in a goddamn royal palace, attending a ball where I stuffed my face with the fancy rich folk food and danced with an actual prince… I would probably tell you that you were a fucking idiot and then punch you in the mouth."

He hums in amusement at the thought, “It does seem like quite a leap from what you’re used to. Do you like it though? The balls and the dancing and everything?”

Michael shrugs and for a moment Gavin thinks that he’s too busy staring at the stars to give an actual answer. “It’s alright,” he finally says, “A little more strict and nerve wracking than I was expecting, but you know. I’m not used to being around people who’s only concerns are if their dress is the most expensive in the room or if they’re the most rich and powerful. It’s an odd change of pace and I’m not sure I entirely like it.”

"I don’t blame you if you don’t. I don’t even like it a lot of the time. Everybody is so dull and boring down there. All they want to do is talk about themselves or their kingdoms or their money. It’s just one big excuse for everybody to get together and show off as much as possible. Hence why I usually sneak off with the people my age and we try to skip as many of the formalities as possible."

"Like we’re doing now?"

"Yes, although sorry that we had to dance. It’s kind of mandatory."

"No worries, it was actually kind of fun."

"Fun enough to go to another one?"

"Fuck no. The food was great, and so were you, but this fucking outfit is so uncomfortable. I feel like I’m suffocating in it."

Gavin laughs, not at all surprised by his thoughts, “Yeah, they’re a pain. I’d much prefer wearing casual or regular street clothing.”

"You mean poor people clothes?"

"Maybe. I didn’t want to sound like an arsehole though."

"Too late for that, pal."

They both chuckle and allow a brief silence to overcome them. Not an uncomfortable one, just to give them an appropriate amount of time to simply focus on the sight in front of them and enjoy it together in silence.

The muffled sounds of the party downstairs can be heard, and the lights reflect off of the garden below. Gavin wonders if he should have taken him to the garden instead, it’s wide and open down there. They could have run around without shoes on and wrestled playfully on the grass like he does with all of his visiting friends.

But when he looks back to watching Michael’s face as he’s still in awe over the sight of the peaceful realm ahead of them, he decides that maybe the balcony was a great idea after all.

Michael looks back at him and smirks, “What?”

Gavin finally snaps out of his admiring gaze and shakes his head, “Nothing.”

Goddamn. When he falls, he falls  _hard_.

"Where did you get these clothes anywhere?" Gavin asks, not wanting the blush rising to his cheeks to become noticeable, "And where did you get all cleaned up?"

He looks down at his attire, “Do you like it? I think I look spiffy.”

"Spiffy?"

"Yeah. I fit in pretty well with your crowd downstairs."

"You do. You look very handsome," he grins, teasingly.

"Geoff came ‘round to talk to me again. He asked if I was serious about going to this thing. I said sure, and he practically grabbed me and dragged me back to the castle. He and Griffon refused any help from servents as they started picking out clothes for me to wear and running a bath. It was crazy, my head was spinning the whole time. You probably have the weirdest parents in the world."

Gavin lets out a loud laugh, knowing just what his parents can be like, “They gave you a bath?!”

"Consisted of me sitting in the bath while Griffon sat outside the bathtub and washed my hair for me. And Geoff held up outfits from across the room. I’ve never pampered before, it was weird."

"You were naked in front of my parents?"

"Hey, you’ll get naked in front of  _anybody_ if it means getting to have a clean bath for the first time in weeks. Water was brown by the time I was out.”

"Gross."

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"You look different without dirt staining your cheeks and tangly hair."

"She also gave me a haircut too. How that woman is able to cut hair, rule the kingdom as queen,  _and_ take care of you and Geoff, I will never understand.”

"Yeah, she’s a woman of many talents. She also does wood carvings out in the yard, there are a few decorating the castle, but most of them are in her and Geoff’s room."

"Damn. You’ve got a lot to live up to."

And it’s true. His parents are probably the best rulers in the entire world, he can’t imagine a king and queen that could be better at what they do. Plus, they still find time to do all of the other amazing things that they’re good at. Gavin still doesn’t understand how they do it all, on top of taking care of him and still making time to give him parental affection. It isn’t sure he could do it.

He isn’t sure he can do any of the royalty stuff that he has to.

Michael has already gone back to admiring the view, but he voices the perfect question to match Gavin’s inner thoughts. “Do you ever just sit out here and think about how crazy it is that you’re going to rule it one day?”

Gavin lets out a small sigh, trying to push away the worry that seeps into his brain with those words. “Yeah. A lot.”

"Are you scared?" The question isn’t asked with any mocking or playful intent, only curiosity laced with the smallest amount of concern.

"Kind of?" he murmurs, and raises a hand to nervously scratch the back of his neck. "I can hardly take care of myself. I don’t know how I’m going to handle taking care of an entire kingdom and all of it’s inhabitants."

"Well, as one of those inhabitants, and as somebody that has personally seen how good of a person you are," Michael smiles, "I’m sure you’ll do a great job."

He’s heard those words a lot while growing up. His growing fears of not being a good enough king were never something he tried to hide from his father. Geoff was more than kind, always willing to teach him as much as he could and lending an ear to listen to any concerns the young lad may have. But sometimes it was just never enough to erase his worries.

Constantly hearing the phrase ‘You can do it’ is just so bloody difficult when he knows that he actually can’t.

"Easy for you to say," he says miserably, "I know it’s really stupid, but I kind of wish that I  _was_ just some helpless runaway that you took in. Being away from all of the prince duties felt like such a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders for a while. On the streets the only person you’d have to look out for is yourself. You can be as selfish as you want and nobody is around to point fingers at you for doing something wrong. It’s just you.”

"Yeah, I get that," Michael nods, "I guess every privilege comes with it’s disadvantages. You may have a stable roof over your head, a loving family, and a full stomach, but you’re also responsible for a lot more than you seem to be in control of."

"And  _you_ may be living a free life where you have nobody to worry about besides yourself, but you’re also still a dirty street rat,” he teases, reaching over to playfully flick Michael’s nose.

"Hey, watch it, rich-boy," he threatens playfully. He takes a moment to force Gavin into a headlock and rubs his knuckles roughly against the boy’s hair. Gavin yells loudly and fights to get away despite the laughter.

When he finally releases him from the torture, he laughs at the fact that Gavin’s hair doesn’t look any messier than it did before. His natural bed head doesn’t seem to be at all affected by his rich status.

Michael smiles fondly at him as he playfully glares in return. “Maybe having to take care of somebody other than myself wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. You wouldn’t last long out there, and I’m relieved you don’t have to. But I admit that it was kind of fun while it lasted.”

"I would have lasted long!" he argues, "Street life may be difficult but so is rich life. Maybe not in the same sense, but can you imagine having to go to one of these stupid balls every month?"

Michael shudders at the thought, “No. Everybody stared at me like I was some kind of new and shiny toy for them to play with. It was more than a little creepy.”

"Maybe I’m just used to it," Gavin ponders, realizing how much he was unaffected by their stares.

"You’re used to all of the attention and everybody doing everything for you against your will?"

"Well, yeah. It isn’t like I can stop them, so why bother fighting it, right?"

Michael thinks over the words for a few moments before letting out a thoughtful sigh. “Everybody kind of treats you like a kid around here.”

"Because I kind of  _am_ a kid.”

"Not really, you don’t have that long of a wait to be king, right? So what? They’re gonna baby you right up until your coronation or crowing or whatever?"

"They just want to make sure that I’m doing things correctly," he attempts to defend, but he knows that his argument is weak because even he is reluctant to agree with it.

"But you don’t have to live by what they think is correct or not. You’re going to be the fucking king. Do what you want. If what you think is right is skipping all of the fancy dances and playing out in a yard, then fucking do that."

"But that’s not what kings  _do_.”

"Who’s image are you living up to? Because I can tell you one thing, Geoff may be a king, but he is not at all what I ever imagined a king to be like."

"I don’t know anymore. I don’t know about _any_ of this anymore. It just feels like I’m setting myself up for failure with all of this king and prince nonsense. Like everybody is just watching because they’re waiting for me to fail and then they can all laugh at how weak I am."

Michael doesn’t say anything, and instead rests a comforting hand on his shoulder as Gavin leans against the railing of the balcony. He buries his face in his hands, knowing how pathetic he must sound right now.

"Sometimes I just wish I didn’t have to be king at all."

"…Then don’t."

Gavin lifts his head up to shoot him a look, “I can’t just  _not_ be king.”

"Why not?"

"Because… I…" Gavin trails off, unable to even think of a proper answer to such a ridiculous question, "I  _have_ to be king. I’m the only child born of the king and queen, I’ve been taught the etiquette and guidelines since before I could even walk. I can’t just  _decide_ not to do what I was practically born for.”

"Now, you and I both know that’s bullshit. Your parents didn’t have you just to have an heir to the throne. If they did, they wouldn’t give two shits about you."

"Well, that’s true," he admits, "But everything else still stands."

"No it doesn’t!" Michael argues, "Just because you were raised to be a king your entire life doesn’t mean that you have to be. You can do whatever you want. You don’t have to do something just because that’s the only future anybody ever sees for you."

Gavin scoffs, “You were raised to be a thief, and you’re sticking with that, aren’t you?”

"Yeah, but I’m also dirt poor. I don’t have a lot of options when it comes to life choices."

He goes quiet as he thinks over the words. He’d never even considered that side of it before. His entire life has been filled with other people telling him what he  _has_ to do and what  _king’s have_ to do. There was never any room for his opinions or ideas.

"But, I don’t really know how to do anything else other than do what other people tell me to do. You saw how hopeless I was out on the streets, you practically had to take care of me like a child. It was bloody ridiculous."

"You did well. A lot better than I was expecting you to, and I only thought you were a spoiled rich kid, not a prince."

"So what are  _you_ suggesting then?”

Michael shrugs, “I’m not suggesting anything.

Michael shrugs, “I’m not suggesting anything. I’m just saying that… It’s okay to be scared of things like that. You don’t have to be the fearless prince that isn’t afraid of anything. I don’t give a shit what your teachers or instructors or whatever say. Being scared of the future is  _normal_. You shouldn’t feel weak or pathetic for something that’s so easily human and within everybody. You should feel weak and pathetic because you’re Gavin.”

Gavin laughs and shoves him roughly, although thankful for the comedic relief. Serious conversations are nice, especially when they’re working to reassure him, but laughing helps him feel more comfortable and secure. Michael snickers along with him before continuing with the seriousness.

"But, if you ever get too scared or worried about all of…” he gestures awkwardly to the area around them, “This. Then you know where I live. If it’s just to get away for a few hours, or if you want to leave permanently. I’ll be there for you. We’re friends now, right?”

Gavin nods and tries to keep the smile off his face, but it’s given away when Michael pulls him away from the ledge so that they’re facing one another.

"I know talking to parents about stuff can be hard, even if they’re awesome parents like yours. And you don’t get to talk to your friends much because the only time they ever come is for these ridiculous balls. But, you’ve got me now."

"Yeah," he nods again, finally letting the smile overtake his face, "I do. And I don’t think I want to let you go anytime soon."

"Well good. Because you aren’t getting rid of me now anyways."

Gavin grins, reaching out to place a hand on both of Michael’s shoulders. “I wouldn’t want to.”

The feeling of being so close to one another, and being connected with a form of physical contact makes Gavin’s head spin. Besides, they’re all alone on his balcony, with nobody to interrupt them or tell them that they’re being inappropriate or whatever nonsense excuse they’d use.

All Gavin knows is that he enjoys being near Michael, and he has no idea why.

"Do you want to… maybe…  _date_?” Gavin questions nervously.

He’s never had any experience with asking anybody to date before. Hell, he’s never had any experience with actually liking anybody before. He isn’t even sure where the question came from in the first place. Maybe talking to Michael has already given him a little confidence boost for making decisions on his own.

Gavin doesn’t even realize how much he regrets asking until he notices that Michael hasn’t responded yet, and is instead just staring at him with wide eyes.

"Or, sorry. I mean-"

"Yeah," Michael says, and nods his head quickly. Gavin notices the hesitance and concern on his face though as he repeats the word again, "Yeah. I mean, are you sure?"

There’s a brief moment of happiness that explodes in Gavin’s head at the approval, but then it’s quickly washed away with Michael’s question. Then it’s his turn to be confused.

"Am I sure? What do you mean am  _I_ sure?”

Michael narrows his eyes and takes a step back, “How does that confuse you? You’re a goddamn prince and your asking out the poor kid that you met on the streets after running away from home, and  _you’re_ confused?”

Gavin smiles at his annoyance, unable to respond. Only Michael could get angry during an admittance of attraction and still be appealing. The boy raises an eyebrow at his amusement, but ends up smiling too. But Gavin isn’t able to make out if it’s because he also finds the exchange charming or if it’s humorous incredulity.

"So… you actually like me?" Michael finally questions. The disbelief on his features makes Gavin giggle like a child because it’s so adorable.

"Yes," he nods, and takes Michael’s hands in his although the boy doesn’t even seem to notice. Still trying to swallow down the information being given to him.

"Okay, just give me a few seconds to process this. We are dating. I’m dating a fucking prince. Holy shit."

Gavin giggles, almost wishing that there were somebody else here to witness Michael’s revelation.

"Are you okay?" he asks teasingly, but it’s clear that it could also be asked as a legitimate question going by Michael’s current reaction.

"Yeah, it’s just… weird," he murmurs.

"A break-up kind of weird?"

"No, more like a  _what kind of prince would want to date a poor homeless guy_ kind of weird.”

Gavin grins and releases one of Michael’s hands to gesture to himself, “This prince right here.”

It doesn’t do anything other than remind Michael of his now-boyfriend’s status. “Holy shit you’re a prince,” he murmurs.

"Indeed I am."

"And I’m dating you."

"Indeed you are."

Michael nods slowly, obviously still trying to get the news to settle in completely. “Okay. Yeah,” he says, “We’re dating. You’re a prince. I’m dating a prince. This is totally something that is actually happening. Okay.”

"You’re really cute, you know?"

Michael glares at him, “Shut up.”

"No, please," Gavin complains, but it makes him sound like a whining child, "Go back to freaking out about dating a prince. It was adorable. Do it again."

"Stop it."

"Come on, please? I’m a prince! I’m the son of the king and queen. I’m soon going to own the entire realm that you currently live in. One day you’ll have to bow to me because I’ll be the king. "

"You’re being a pompous asshole again," Michael points out, but the corners of his lips are twitching.

"I could be interested in any prince or princess, but instead I like you. The poor mischievous boy that lives on the streets. And now I’m dating you."

"Yes, you are. Unless you continue to push your luck."

Gavin giggles, and wraps his arms around Michael’s neck and holds him in a tight hug. “Sorry. I’m just kind of excited too.”

"What? That we’re dating?"

"Yes."

"We’re dating… So," Michael whispers as he leans closer. Gavin is left unable to speak or move due to their close presence, and it feels like everything in him as just stopped working entirely. "I can just do  _this_ to you…”

Before Gavin can even think about what his words mean, their lips are connected and his entire body just wants to melt at the feeling. He’s only kissed Michael once before, and that time it was in his dungey rundown store when he’d believed he was still a runaway.

And although Michael is definitely cleaner and smells nicer, the kiss is still just as soft and warm as when they were back in the cold makeshift home. It’s still just a simple and chaste kiss, nothing fancy or overly sensual about it, but it still causes Gavin’s head to spin and his heart to pound.

He can feel Michael’s hand cradling back of his head, his fingers tangling into the naturally messy hair, and he doesn’t even remember Michael lifting his hand to do it in the first place.

Through his half lidded eyes he can see that Michael’s are closed and he has the feeling he should probably close his own. But his brain is unable to focus on anything on than the fact that Michael’s lips are on his.

His brain has just gone to complete mush at the thought of Michael even wanting to be close enough to him for this to happen even though the boy has already voiced his own disbelief over Gavin showing interest in him.

When Michael pulls away, Gavin has to force himself not to pull him back and remove the room between their faces again.

He’s still dazed even a few moments after they’ve stopped kissing, and Michael just smirks at him, but like he did after their first kiss. Amused at how much of an affect kissing has on his boyfriend, and how keen he is on the idea of seeing more of that disoriented expression.

"…Whenever I want?" Michael finishes with a smile.

"Yeah," Gavin finally says, but it comes out as a weak and unsteady breath, "And I’d be forever grateful if you could do it again."

Michael smiles at him. He’s never been one to turn down a direct request from a prince.


End file.
